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Allfather in Hildskjalf 








TALES 


FROM THE 


Norse Grandmother, 

(TIIE ELDER EDM.) ? 


BY AUGUSTA LARNED, 

» * ' 

Author of “Old Tales Retold from Grecian Mythology, Etc.” 



CINCINNATI : 
WALDEN <& STOWE. 


1 88l. 











V 




Copyright 1880, 

PHIL Li IPS & 

N.*w York. 


t. 


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by „ 

II U N T , 


PREFACE. 


T HE Norse myths are only the ideals of our an- 
cestors — a more or less perfect string of crystals — 
preserved amid the forgotten dust and rubbish of the 
past. They are the thoughts and beliefs of those old 
men and women, which they strove to express in daily 
life. Childish as some of them may seem, they shaped 
the destiny of a powerful nation, and furnished it with 
motives of action. 

I think our young people ought to know something 
of these myths, because they belong to our family his- 
tory. They are part of the archives of the race. Norse 
mythology is perhaps chiefly valuable as the source of 
unnumbered superstitions, which still live in the fancy 
of the ignorant and fetter multitudes of minds. Mr. 
Baring-Gould says we can look through the Norse myths 
as through glacier ice, and see where most of our popu- 
lar superstitions lie embedded. 

We shall see that many of them sprang out of our an- 
cestors’ thoughts about nature and the different orders 
of beings supposed to people the earth. Myths die 
very hard, and what were once mere mountains and 
thunder-clouds live on, after the meaning has escaped, 
to scare the mind in the form of giants and hobgoblins. 


4 


PREFACE. 


There were myths of exceeding beauty born in the 
North, and if we study them we shall learn to respect 
the ancient poets of our race, who struggled with the 
same great questions that occupy the minds of scholars 
and thinkers to-day. We shall see the mighty change 
Christianity has wrought in the old types of character, 
and how Odin, the all-powerful Valfather, was doomed 
to die. 

The myths are, many of them, attractive wonder- 
stories, filled with the quaint conceits of Northern fancy. 
They have given birth to the richest folk-lore in the 
world. They are the treasure-house from which mate- 
rials have been drawn to amuse and interest the children 
of countless generations. They are like the old Egyp- 
tian temples, that have been pulled down piecemeal 
during centuries to build the little huts of the poor. 

Because I have felt that the ancient religion of our 
own great race ought not to be entirely unknown to the 
young, I have undertaken to give in this volume all the 
myths, with such slight historical sketches as I trusted 
would render them more intelligible, and perhaps 
throw a little light on some of the strange doctrines 
held by our remote ancestors. 




4 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introduction — Who was Edda? 7 

II. The Ancient German 18 

III. Life in Old Germany 32 

IV. The Age of Harald Fairhair 46 

V. Life in Ancient Iceland 61 

VI. Life in Ancient Iceland — Continued 76 

VII. The Two Olafs 90 

VIII. A Glance at the ^Esir, and the Asa Faith 105 

IX. How the Universe was Made from the Giant 

Ymir’s Body 118 

* * . • , 

X. The Nine Worlds, the Heavenly Houses, and 

the Creation of Ask and Embla 133 

XI. Yggdrasil, the Universe-tree 145 

XII. Allfather in History and in Nature 161 

XIII. Valfather and Valhalla 175 

XIV. Odin’s Horse and the Poetic Mead 188 

XV. Odin’s Adventures and Iduna’s Apples 201 

XVI. Thor and the Forging of his Hammer 214 

XVII. Thor’s Adventures with the Metal-king and 

the Stony-hearted Giant 227 

XVIII. How Thor went Fishing for the Midgard Ser- 
pent 240 

XIX. Thor and Utgard Loki 256 

XX. Thor and Utgard Loki — Concluded 268 

XXL Njord and Frey, and their Brides Skadi and 

Gerda 282 


6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XXII. Loki and his Children — the Fenris-wolf, Hel, 

and Midgard Serpent 296 

XXIII. The Death of Baldur 308 

XXIV. Baldur’ s Funeral 320 

XXV. Loki’s Punishment 334 

XXVI. The Twilight of the Gods 348 

XXVII. A New Creation 360 

XXVIII. The Lesser Gods 373 

XXIX. The Asynjur 386 

XXX. Morality, Social Life, and Ancient Worship. 402 
XXXI. Folk-Lore and Popular Superstitions 416 

— . 

Illustration:, 


Allfather in Hildsicjalf 


Frontispiece. 


TALES 

FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION — WHO WAS EDDA? 

I HAVE named my little book after the Norse 
Great-Grandmother because, my young read- 
ers, she is your great-grandmother and mine ; in- 
deed, she is the great-grandmother of all the Ger- 
man and English speaking peoples, and probably, 
in a remote way, of the Celtic races also. But of 
that it is not necessary to speak, because it takes 
us too wide of our subject. 

Her name is Edda, which means ancestress, or 
grandmother. She is a very aged dame — hundreds, 
perhaps thousands, of years old — and her memory 
for what happened in the dim past is still clear and 
bright, though she cares not at all for the hurry and 
bustle of her remote descendants, who have spread 
over so large a part of the earth’s surface, and are 
called by so large a variety of names, but who have 
some kindred blood coursing in their veins, whether 
they be called Danes in Denmark, Norwegians in 
Norway, Dutchmen in Holland, Germans in Ger- 
many, or Englishmen in England and America. 


8 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

The Great-Grandmother is the old lady of history, 
of poetry, of romance, and religion, whose only busi- 
ness is to remember. In the ancient Norse tongue 
she is called Edda, and you will learn that there is 
an elder and a younger Edda; but the younger is 
the direct descendant of the elder, and derives all 
her knowledge and importance from her. There- 
fore, we might aptly call them Great-Grandmother 
and Grandmother Edda. 

The two Eddas, as you may know, are two Ice- 
landic books containing the oldest account of Norse 
mythology and legend ; and I shall explain to you 
how it happens that nearly all we know of ancient 
Northern religion, which is believed on good grounds 
to be the religion of our Saxon, Danish, and Nor- 
man forefathers, comes to us from Iceland, which 
has very prettily been called the foster-mother of 
Northern history. Were it not for that desolate, 
ice-bound, volcanic island, lying on the verge of the 
Arctic circle, we should be far poorer in the annals 
of our great race than we are to-day. Every En- 
glish and American child owes a debt of gratitude 
to Iceland for preserving so much that is valuable 
and instructive about his or her Northern ancestors. 
Is it not very strange that from this cold by-corner 
of the world should come nearly all we know of the 
Norseman, or Northman, while he still remained a 
pagan worshiper of Odin and Thor, Njord and Frey? 
That worship was probably spread over the whole 
of northern Europe, but when Christianity took 
root and prevailed there nearly every vestige of it 
was swept away. Men did not care to inquire what 


INTRODUCTION — WHO WAS EDDA? 


9 


their ancestors had believed in the old time, but we, 
to-day, are very curious and eager to know what our 
ancestors believed. We feel that we cannot know 
what manner of men they were unless we know 
what they thought and how they felt about the 
chief concerns of the soul and of human life ; about 
God and destiny and immortality. We must know 
them to know ourselves, and to get down to the 
roots of a great many things that exist in us to-day. 
The youngest little child is only what the long ages 
have made him. The past lives in him as well as 
the present. This is a great thought, and hard to 
understand, but you will comprehend it better when 
I show you that many of the nursery tales that were 
told to you in your cradle are the remains of that 
old heathen faith in which our forefathers so de- 
voutly believed. 

Now, while Europe was too busy or too heedless 
to gather up those precious old myths and tradi- 
tions, before they faded out of the popular mind 
and were forgotten, the learned Icelanders, during 
their long half-year of night, found time and zeal to 
do this very work, and to do it well. The whole 
history of Iceland is a captivating romance ; and, in 
order to show what the life of the North really was 
in the middle of the ninth century, I shall have to 
transport you to that frozen island, because there 
we find data for repainting the picture, which does 
not exist elsewhere. Owing to its isolation and en- 
tire independence, old habits and modes of living 
were retained in Iceland after they had been con- 
siderably modified in Norway, the mother country; 


IO TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

and to this day much in the Icelander’s way of life 
can be directly traced back to hdathen times^when 
Thor was the beloved god of the island worshipers. 

Northern mythology has a peculiar interest to 
those who find the study of old myths the most de- 
lightful and fascinating of pursuits. It excels in 
grandeur, sublimity, and power, but it does not 
equal the Grecian mythology in beauty, symmetry, 
or poetic suggestiveness. The Greek mythology 
reflects the repose and tranquility of the Greek 
mind. The Norse mythology reflects the wild, un- 
tamed energy and restlessness of the Norse nature. 
The impulse which made the Norsemen precipitate 
themselves in floods and tidal waves over many 
parts of Europe struck the ke^-note of their relig- 
ious faith. Owing to the severe nature of the cli- 
mate, the rugged wildness and grandeur of the 
scenery, they developed in strength and power 
rather than in grace and in proportion. The war- 
like propensity grew out of all comparison with 
other traits of character, and had a striking effect on 
the development of the national religion. 

The element of wonder that abounds in these 
myths suggests the tremendous torrents and preci- 
pices, snow mountains and glaciers, with which the 
land abounds., and which infected the fancy of child- 
like, ignorant man like a fantastic nightmare. Some 
of them do singularly resemble sublime dreams, and 
I have been led to ask myself how the very first 
myths came into being ; if they did not spring from 
a kind of lethargy into which the mind was cast by 
contemplation of the wonders of nature, until from 


INTRODUCTION— WHO WAS EDDA > II 

these musings and communings grew those great 
fables that stalk along the Northern world like the 
shadow of the giant along the Brocken. 

These myths, though of the deepest general in- 
terest, are of especial importance to every girl and 
boy with a drop of Teutonic blood in their veins. 
It was formerly thought that myths were but wick- 
ed and foolish stories about idols and false gods, 
not worthy of much attention ; or, if attended td at 
all, only to be condemned. This view of the hea- 
then religion was encouraged by the early Christian 
priests, because they found the attachment of the 
people for the old faith strongly rooted, and hard to 
eradicate. They taught that some of the old gods 
were mere devils, while the attributes of others, 
especial favorites of the people, were transferred to 
Catholic saints. In this way most of the distin- 
guishing traits of Thor, the beloved god of Norway 
and Iceland, were bestowed upon the great St. Olaf. 

Though this treatment of the old faith may find 
some excuse in the necessities of a rude age, and 
the difficulty of grafting a new religion on the wild, 
fierce nature of the Northern people, it grew mainly 
out of ignorance and a want of respect for the relig- 
ious nature of mankind ; and the spirit which gave 
it birth is fast vanishing before more humane and 
enlightened views. We now know that all religions 
have some precious gleams of truth, however mixed 
with error; that, even though low and gross in their 
forms of worship, there was always a yearning, a 
vague reaching of the soul after God, “ if, haply, it 
might find him.” We now perceive that these an- 


12 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


cient faiths must be studied in a charitable frame 
of mind, to discover how the human spirit has 
groped its way along the darkness of the ages to- 
ward a better and purer religion. 

Every Anglo-Saxon child should know something 
of the form and meaning of the Norse myths, which 
practically embody the religion of our ancestors. 
“The child is father to the man” has been beauti- 
fully said by a great poet. Acting on this hint, we 
go back to the early history of our race, and study 
its infancy, as far as it can be traced, with great 
profit and pleasure. Its first lispings, which have 
survived, about religion, and law, and government, 
and the mode of living together in communities, 
and securing order and justice, are of great impor- 
tance. There we find the germs of our own institu- 
tions, manners, and customs, and can trace them to 
their source. Religious ideas are generally allowed 
to be the oldest, and are certainly the most impor- 
tant, that belong to an individual, or to a nation. 
Some notion of how the world was made, of who 
made it, and governs it, is found in nearly every 
tribe as soon as it has produced a language which 
will express ideas apart from things — the images 
and thoughts of the mind as well as the names of 
objects. And, as you will see, the early history of 
races is so blended with their religious ideas, that 
you must study the one in order to discern the out- 
lines of the other. 

I think these myths have been too much neglect- 
ed by the young of English and German speaking 
peoples. They contain nearly all the poetry pro- 


INTRODUCTION— WHO WAS EDDA? 1 3 

duced by the race for many ages, and their grandeur 
and beauty as poems have never been denied. They 
have been neglected because they have not been 
presented to the -young in an easy and attractive 
form. Many of the ancient poems are obscure and 
hard to understand ; and a multitude of scholars 
through two or three centuries labored to throw 
light upon the shadowed parts. It would take too 
long to recount their names, or their unremitting 
toils in this pursuit. Suffice it to say, that within 
the past fifty years, a great flood of light has been 
thrown on the whole field of mythology, which en- 
ables us to read easily some of the riddles of this 
Northern faith, and for want of which learned men 
have gone widely astray by seeking to solve them 
in accordance with their own ingenious theories. 

We shall see how these myths are connected with 
the Greek mythology, and, more remotely, with the 
Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Phoenician, and Hindu 
mythologies, that lie far back of the Greek, and are 
allied to it in the relation of maternal ancestors to 
children. The origin of the Norse faith is not easy 
to trace. It was undoubtedly brought from Asia by 
the emigrating tribes that finally peopled the north 
of Europe. But, scan it as closely as we may, we 
cannot discover that its gods are precisely the same 
as any pf the Eastern or old Greek divinities. The 
resemblances are striking, but the differences are 
equally striking. Tacitus, the Roman historian, who 
wrote a chronicle of the ancient Germans, thought 
he had discovered that their chief god was identical 
with the Roman Mercury and the Greek Hermes, 


14 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

simply because Odin or Woden was ruler over the 
dead, and Mercury, as the messenger of Zeus, was 
employed to conduct the dead to Hades. But the 
connection was more apparent than real, and we 
shall see that though the Northern gods are more 
or less remotely connected with the Eastern and 
Greek gods, by type or general resemblance, they 
are not identical. 

I shall try to show you that although the Norse- 
men and the old Germans brought most of their 
gods with them from the ancient home in Asia, 
they probably borrowed some of them from the 
aboriginal peoples, who were subdued or driven 
farther to the North. Owing to the rigor of the 
climate, and the energy developed by hardship and 
privation, the Norseman became the best seaman 
and the boldest fighter of Europe. It is probable 
that in the course of centuries a great change took 
place in the Norseman’s character, and a corre- 
sponding change in the nature of his gods and his 
modes of worship. From a pastoral man, living by 
tillage and grazing, and the care of flocks and herds, 
he may gradually have been transformed into the 
bold viking and the tremendous fighter. But some 
traits of the original character were preserved. 
Life in the North was always more or less pastoral. 
In Iceland, in the most flourishing days of its inde- 
pendence, the great chiefs worked on their farms, 
and were also excellent seamen and redoubtable 
warriors. The national religion was gradually 
changed by the changes in national character ; but 
it retained enough of the original type to show its 


INTRODUCTION — WHO WAS EDDA ? I 5 

alliance with the great Eastern systems of mytholo- 
gy, and we can see how and why, in the course of 
ages, these great changes took place. 

As the Norse religion has come down to us it 
seems in great part a creation of the Norse mind ; 
therefore, to comprehend it, we must know some- 
thing of the ancient Norse man and woman, and of 
life in the far North as early as the ninth century of 
our era. For this reason I intend to give you a slight 
sketch of Northern history and manners and ideas, 
as manifested in Norway and Iceland at this period — 
just sufficient to show you what manner of men our 
old Norse ancestors were; how they lived at home, 
and struggled and fought abroad, in the belief that 
unflinching courage and endurance would give them 
admittance to Valhalla, the blest abode of Odin. 
This will form some groundwork for understanding 
how their gods came into being, or were modified, 
and why they took the form and meaning they 
finally assumed. 

It seems a startling thing to say that God is 
made in the image of man, but a moment’s reflec- 
tion will show you that each man’s idea of God 
must be in accordance with the development of his 
mind, and the growth of his spirit toward reverence 
and worship. The lowest savage worships his dead 
ancestors, or bows down to a stick or stone, because 
he can conceive of no higher or better divinity. 
Poor and low as his worship is, it is a recognition 
of something wiser and stronger than himself, and 
even though he regard his divinity as an evil demon 
to be appeased by prayers and offerings, it is the 


1 6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

dim, pathetic beginning of religions faith. The 
idea of God, (in the absence of written revelation,) 
whether high or low, good or evil, must spring from 
the mind of man. Man is largely molded by the 
climate, the soil, air, water, winds, the sea, the shape 
and direction of mountain ranges, the animals, 
plants, the colors and forms, that surround him. 
Therefore, to know the man, we must know some- 
thing of his country ; to know his gods, we must 
know him, and thus, in a strange, new way, we ar- 
rive at the old Norse doctrine that both gods and 
men were fashioned from matter. But these gods 
are only the effect of that effort of man’s mind, of 
which I spoke, to give shape to a power which, we 
feel, but never see, that is in all and over all.* 

Myths should be studied by children, because, in 
part, they belong to the child-mind, and, however 
fantastic, they always embody a truth or fact of 


* Whether man be capable of arriving at the knowledge of God, 
independently of divine revelation, is a question whose affirmative 
side is incapable of demonstration. As a matter of fact, the human 
race has never been without some knowledge of the true God. In 
the primitive ages this knowledge was clear, and comparatively defi- 
nite. In the absence of written revelation, it was gradually cor- 
rupted and lost, and the nations sank into the depths of superstition 
and barbarism. 

“ When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither 
were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their 
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they 
became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an 
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed 
beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up,”' 
etc. Rom. i, 21, el seq. This is a terribly true description of hu- 
man apostasy and deterioration, and wholly in harmony with what 
is known of the history of different peoples. — Ed. 


INTRODUCTION — WHO WAS EDDA? 1 7 

nature, which they cover, but do not quite conceal, 
by a poetical dress. Myths are in some sense such 
pictures as children make, before they begin to think, 
about persons whom they fancy are hidden behind 
mountains and rocks, in the sea and in clouds. 
But the thought comes later and fits itself to the 
picture, and thus the gods are clothed with attri- 
butes. Myths have an immense advantage over all 
purely fancy stories, because they are rooted in 
truth, and lead 6very-where to the study of nature 
and sympathy with all its forms. 

2 


1 8 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 

E will now take a peep at the oldest man of 



V V our race that history describes. He is the 
ancient German, first cousin to the Scandinavian. 
At a time in the remote past, which it is now impos- 
sible for us to determine with accuracy, as it dates 
back to a period long previous to any written rec- 
ords which have been preserved to the world, we 
know that most of the families and tribes from 
which the modern European nations have sprung 
lived together with other allied families, like the 
Persians and the Hindus, somewhere in the wide 
regions of central or north-western Asia. 

It would take too long to explain minutely how 
we know this, but, in general terms, I can say that 
we know it from the kinship or likeness which 
exists between all their languages, showing that 
the races and tribes who spoke the common tongue 
were closely allied — were relatives in degree nearer 
or more remote. This vast ancient family was called 
the Aryan family, and we have a specimen of the 
language spoken by a branch of that family, before 
its tribes were scattered over the face of the earth, 
in Sanskrit, the most ancient tongue of the Hindus. 

The time when the great migration took place, 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


19 


and the Aryan tribes poured into Europe, is now 
forgotten, for it occurred long before history began 
to be written. But the old myths and fairy tales, 
and even the old nursery rhymes, have not been 
forgotten. These were dearer to the people, and 
clung more tenaciously to the memory, than the 
story of their wanderings and wars and the con- 
quest and settlement of new lands. Some of these 
tales, which our Grandam Edda knew by heart, 
and many more, which furnished the foundation for 
what is called folk-lore, have survived, and out of 
them have been gleaned whole volumes of most de- 
lightful and instructive knowledge, which makes a 
dead and buried world rise before our eyes in fresh 
and living colors. 

We now know that a popular story, dear to the 
hearts of the children, and which is repeated at the 
fireside by successive generations of mothers and 
grandmothers, is one of the things the least likely to 
be forgotten. Traces of many of the little stories 
which pleased us in our infancy, and are delighting 
the children of to-day, can be found in nearly every 
allied language belonging to the Aryan group. But 
what I wish to call your attention to is the fact that 
many of these tales have their roots far back in the 
old mythology, which dealt with gods and super- 
natural beings, and thus preserve for us some faint 
traces of the religion of our forefathers. 

After the great migration, or successive waves of 
migration, had rolled over Europe out of Asia, and 
after centuries had passed away, great changes took 
place in the myths of the people and their ideas 


20 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

about the gods. If we could trace them accurately 
we should see that they exactly correspond to out- 
ward and inward changes in the life of the people. 
The Greeks borrowed some of their religious ideas 
from the Pelasgians, probably the ancient inhabit- 
ants of Greece. They also borrowed from the Phoe- 
nicians, Assyrians, and Egyptians. The beliefs of 
their fathers, brought in dim ages past from the old 
Aryan home, were transformed in a thousand ways. 
The German and Scandinavian tribes spread over 
the north of Europe, and, in the course of ages, 
equally great, though not similar, changes there 
took place. A new faith arose on the foundations 
of the old, and the ancient myths were wrought 
into new forms. But remnants of that primitive 
faith can, doubtless, by patient research, be traced 
among all related nations. 

The Teutones, or Germans, to whom our Anglo- 
Saxon forefathers belonged, are closely allied to the 
Scandinavian races, and are members of the great 
Gothic family. Some of the gods of their worship 
■we know to have been the same as the Scandina- 
vian gods, although the facts for reconstructing the 
old German religion are few and scanty. Roman 
history and tradition, where we would naturally 
look for such knowledge, contain no accounts of 
the early Scandinavians older than the wars of the 
Cimbri. 

Perhaps you already know that the Romans were 
the most powerful and highly-civilized nation on 
the earth at the time that some of the Northern 
tribes were naked savages, who painted their bodies 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


21 


when they went into battle, like North American 
Indians. 

The Cimbri were the ancient inhabitants of Den- 
mark, who, suddenly and without warning, invaded 
the Roman Empire in a vast savage horde, in the 
year of Rome 640, or hi B. C. They streamed 
down from their dark northern forests like locust- 
swarms, and, uniting with a numerous savage tribe 
called the Teutones — the Germans — poured them- 
selves suddenly upon Gaul and Italy, spreading dis- 
may into minds that had never even heard of their 
existence. History has nothing to tell us of these 
mysterious Cimbri until nearly the whole nation 
took up its line -of march toward the South. It was 
the emigration of a people rather than the march 
of an army, for they traveled in wagons, with their 
wives and children and household goods and gear. 
We do not know what impulse drove them forth, 
but we can conjecture that they were poor and 
restless, hungry, perhaps, as savages often are, and 
incited by the hope of plunder and conquest. They 
were, doubtless, dazzled by stories of the riches and 
splendor of the Romans, which they flattered them- 
selves would fall an easy prey to their rude attacks. 

We do not even know whether these ancient in- 
habitants of Denmark were true Norsemen, but we 
may be tolerably certain that they belonged to the 
great Germanic family. More than three hundred 
thousand are said to have thrown themselves thus 
unprovoked upon the South. Twice they invaded 
Gaul, and the borders of Italy were imperiled, so 
that terror spread to the gates of mighty Rome. 


22 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


For a time a portion of the invaders lingered on 
the banks of the Danube, and four Roman armies, 
which were successively destroyed, were sent against 
them. Their wild looks, gigantic stature, barbarous 
shouts, strange modes of warfare, and savage dress, 
struck dismay to the hearts of the veteran soldiers 
of old Rome, who had conquered in a hundred bat- 
tles. The great city quaked with fear, for she 
seemed wholly at the mercy of these strange foes, 
who had emerged from the dreadful Northern 
woods, which the excited fancy of that age peopled 
with monsters and hobgoblins. 

In a fortunate moment the great Marius, con- 
queror of Jugurtha, came home, and was appointed 
general-in-chief of the forces. He reorganized the 
army on a new and better plan, and applied himself to 
the study of the enemy’s tactics, and taught this new 
mode of warfare to his soldiers, trying to accustom 
his army to the sight of the savages until familiarity 
should breed contempt. At last, when his army 
was nerved for conquest, he drew on a great battle 
with the Teutones, and more than one hundred 
thousand of them are said to have perished. The 
Cimbri had separated themselves from their allies, 
and had halted on the banks of the Po. Marius 
came up with them, flushed with victory, and the 
Cimbri were exterminated. Their women sat on 
chariots and wagons around the battle-field, clothed 
in black, and bewailing the slain. Those of their 
husbands, sons, and brothers who had retreated 
from the fight they cut down and massacred with 
their own hands. Then these terrible women 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


23 


dashed out the brains of their children, and threw 
themselves under chariot-wheels, hung themselves 
from trees and wagon-poles, or put each other to 
death, that they might not fall alive into the hands 
of the victorious Romans. One hundred and 
twenty thousand are said to have perished that day. 

A number of sacred women, priestesses or proph- 
etesses, clad in long white linen garments, accom- 
panied the Cimbri, in some sacred and mysterious 
character. We are told that this nation reverenced 
women. The wives and mothers had great author- 
ity with the people. In courage the women equaled, 
if they did not excel, the men. 

This strange, pathetic story of the Cimbri — a 
whole nation misled by a false hope, and revealed 
to the Romans only to be destroyed — is the first 
glimpse we have of the Norsemen, if Norsemen 
they were. That they were Norsemen, or some 
nearly-related branch of the Teutonic family, seems 
pretty clear. Respect for woman was one of the 
distinguishing qualities of that great race, which 
historians observed first and dwelt upon longest, 
bringing it out in vivid colors. In the story of the 
Cimbri we first discover the two types of Northern 
women which re-appear in all the old Norse legends 
and sagas from the earliest days down to historical 
times. One is the Amazonian woman, the fighter 
and inspirer of courage, who slays her husband or 
brother if he does not come back victorious from 
the battle ; the other is the priestess, or seeress, 
who forecasts the future and is endowed with divine 
attributes. Sometimes the two types are blended 


24 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

in the same person, as in the case of Brynhild, who, 
as we shall see, united the warrior’s courage and 
strength with the supernatural gifts of a prophetess. 
It is difficult to recall these ferocious, gigantic, half- 
naked Cimbri, with their fierce women and broods 
of wild children, and see in them the beginnings of 
our own great race. But it is well ' to remember 
that we came remotely from just such savages, and 
that our propensities are only their natures tamed 
and civilized. The woods of northern Europe, as 
dense and tangled as the wildest American forest, 
were the cradle where the German and English na- 
tions were rocked, with a warrior woman sitting be- 
side it, and singing prophetic songs of the past and 
the future. 

Tacitus, the great Roman historian, who wrote 
in the first century of our era, has helped us to fill 
up and color the picture of our forefathers by his 
famous sketch of the manners and customs of the 
ancient Germans. In the time of Tacitus the Ro- 
mans had already been at war with the Northern 
tribes more than two hundred years. No power 
had ever proved so formidable to Roman rule as 
German love of liberty. The struggle was yet to 
go on for centuries, until the Northern hordes, like 
successive waves of the sea, had blotted out the 
empire, to give the world new races of men and a 
new age. German vigor and the sturdy spirit of 
independence became the inheritors of Roman civ- 
ilization and the spirit of law and order. 

But it is not of these things I am going to speak, 
but of the picture of our ancestors, drawn by Taci- 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


25 


tus, while they still remained savages, and' had made 
but small clearings in the dense forests which then 
covered the sites of the grand old historic cities 
and towns of the North, and before they had learned 
to cultivate the ground, except in a poor and imper- 
fect manner. While they were still savages, rush- 
ing into battle naked, or with painted bodies, and 
with ferocious cries in imitation of wild beasts, 
many of the germs of our laws, customs, and modes 
of government already existed in the woods of 
Germany. 

The habits of the ancient inhabitants of northern 
Europe were probably similar, if not identical. 
They were divided into numerous tribes, partly 
migratory. At times they wandered about in search 
of subsistence ; and the restlessness of the savage 
nature, combined with hunger, often led them to 
throw themselves on the rich and well-cultivated 
lands of the South. In the time of Tacitus there 
were the beginnings of agricultural life among them. 
They had learned to raise wheat, from which they 
made fermented liquors, and from that time until 
now the Northern nations have been marked by 
their love of beer and spirits, and the pernicious 
habit of intemperance. 

Barbarous Germany was bounded on the west by 
the Rhine, on the south by the Danube, on the east 
by the River Vistula and the Sarmatian Mountains, 
and on the north by the Baltic and the Gulfs of 
Bothnia and Finland. The northern ocean was 
almost unexplored ; for, in the time of Tacitus, the 
Romans had a childish dread of unknown regions, 


2 6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

and thought it almost impious to explore them. 
We must try to imagine Germany at that time as a 
vast region of mountains, forests, fens, and marshes. 
Tacitus speaks of it as a country where nature 
offered nothing but scenes of deformity ; a dreary 
region, without form or culture, or any thing to 
make life pleasant or even supportable. The most 
cultivated Romans had but little taste for wild 
nature. Had Tacitus been a modern he would 
probably have discovered some beauty and grandeur 
in the savage mountains and the wilderness of the 
North; but, finding the outward aspect of things 
cold and dreary, he turned his attention to the 
manners and customs of the people. In songs and 
ballads he heard the praises of the god Tuisto, who 
was born of the earth, and of his son Mannus. 
They were celebrated as the founders of the Ger- 
man race. Mannus had three sons, who were the 
founders of three German tribes. Nearly all nations 
have thus traced their lineage back to the gods, 
especially their line of kings, who united the office of 
high-priest to that of the kingly power, and became 
objects of worship. In remote ages the priest-king 
was the most sacred person in the world, and even 
in modern times we have heard of the divine right 
of kings, which is only a remnant of an old pagan 
form of worship. 

Tacitus discovered, as he believed, some traces of 
Greek and Roman worship among the early Ger- 
mans. They had a current tradition that Hercules 
had visited those regions, and had set up commem- 
orative pillars of himself somewhere on the north- 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


2 7 


ern ocean. When rushing into battle they sang 
the praises of Hercules. Every ancient country had 
its Hercules, the embodiment of strength and en- 
durance. Thor resembles the Greek god in many 
respects, and may have been taken for him. Tra- 
ditions of the wanderings of Ulysses, the Greek 
Odysseus, can also be traced all over Europe. Taci- 
tus tells us that the Germans believed Ulysses, in 
the course of his wanderings, was driven into the 
northern ocean, and wandered through the land, 
and built a city on the banks of the Rhine, and that 
monuments had been found in the far North in- 
scribed with Greek characters. Mercury, he thought, 
was the god chiefly adored by the Germans ; but it 
now seems probable that the god he mistook for 
Mercury, or the Greek Hermes, was Odin, who, in a 
few of his attributes, resembles Mercury. He tells 
us that sacrifices were offered to Hercules and Mars, 
and in some parts of the country the worship of the 
Egyptian Isis was established. If these foreign 
gods were introduced into Germany, there is no 
evidence that their worship ever extended to Scan- 
dinavia. We find no trace of them in the Eddas. 
Probably the Romans were not allowed to look very 
deeply into the mysteries of Northern worship, and 
they may have given the names of their own deities 
to such of the Northern gods as they seemed to 
resemble. 

As, undoubtedly, the earliest religious ideas of the 
Greeks and Romans and of the Northern nations 
had a common origin in the dim past, it is not sur- 
prising that Tacitus was struck with some faint 


28 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

traces of resemblance. He speaks of two gods 
named Altis, adored as young men and brothers, 
whom he thought might be Castor and Pollux, the 
divine twins. He also mentions an island in the 
North Sea, sacred to the goddess Hearth, or Earth, 
who undoubtedly was the goddess Frigga, wife of 
Odin. They looked upon her as the universal 
mother, who sometimes took part in human affairs 
and visited the nations with benign intent. A sa- 
cred grove on a lonely island was her only temple. 
There stood her chariot, covered by a holy mantle, 
which the priest alone was permitted to touch. 
When Hearth seated herself in her chariot her 
presence was made known to the priest through 
a fit of inspiration. The chariot was drawn by cows 
yoked together, and a great throng of worshipers 
followed it when it began to move under the guid- 
ance of the goddess. This was the signal for a great 
festival, when arms were laid by, and rejoicings 
heard on every side. At length the priest declared 
the visit ended, and conducted the goddess back to 
her grove, where her chariot was purified in a lake. 
These simple ceremonies may have taken place in 
the spring, when the earth-goddess was supposed to 
shower blessings on her children in flowers and ver- 
dure ; or in the autumn, at the time of the ingath- 
ering of the harvest. 

Though Tacitus may have been misled about the 
names and attributes of some of the gods, he could 
not so easily have made a mistake in regard to their 
forms of worship. He tells us distinctly that they did 
not perform their rites in temples, nor bow down to 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


2 9 


idols, but worshiped in dark and mysterious groves, 
like the Druids of Britain. They did not adore the 
gods under any semblance of the human form. We 
know that the ancient Scandinavians did worship in 
temples which were filled with idols, therefore it 
would seem that, in the course of ages, they developed 
a distinct system of worship peculiar to themselves. 

Tacitus paints for us the portrait of the ancient 
German, and tells us there was a singular likeness 
between all the men of his race. He had stern blue 
eyes, ruddy or reddish hair which he wore long and 
flowing, or sometimes twisted in a knot on the top 
of his head. He allowed his beard to grow long. 
His body was large and robust, and possessed of 
great strength and endurance. But, like most sav- 
ages, he did not like to work, and was very impa- 
tient of continued exertion. Fighting was his only 
occupation, and, when roused by strong excitement, 
he could endure cold and hunger and every form of 
hardship. But when the spur to violent effort was 
removed he sank down into indolence. He slept 
away the long winters by his fireside, or indulged 
in unlimited gluttony over huge feasts of pork and 
mead or beer. He was terrible when roused to an- 
ger, but as soon as the necessity for action passed 
he relapsed into a state of stupor, but little better 
than that of the bear which sucks its paws in cold 
weather. The care of the house and land, of the 
cows and pigs, was given over to the women, to old 
men, and to the weakly and infirm. The clothing 
of both men and women was a loose mantle fast- 
ened with a clasp or a thorn. The woman’s dress 


30 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

only differed from the man’s in being made of linen. 
In some northern parts men dressed themselves in 
the skins and furs of wild beasts. 

It is difficult to carry the mind back to a time 
when Germany possessed no cities, few industries, 
and no arts; when she knew nothing of books, 
music, or pictures. The people were not allowed 
to build compactly. They lived scattered about in 
groves and fields, as chance or convenience directed. 
Though they had villages, they were mere collec- 
tions of houses or huts, each standing on its owner’s 
piece of ground. In the time of Tacitus, a custom 
still existed among them which seems to show that 
the Germans had emerged from a much lower con- 
dition of savagery. They were in the habit of dig- 
ging caves, in which they deposited their treasure 
in times of foreign invasion, and where they some- 
times lived during the severity of the winter. This 
custom may point to an age when the early Ger- 
mans lived entirely in cave-dwellings. We are told 
that they had no knowledge of the use of mortar or 
tiles. They built regardless of beauty or propor- 
tion, and their houses were smeared over with a 
kind of shining earth or mud, and were probably 
little better than hovels. 

The women, though they were virtuous and cour- 
ageous, had no idea of domestic neatness. Their 
cabins were filthy, and the naked children ran about 
with the cattle, much as the children of a modern 
Irish peasant are reared with pigs and fowls. The 
husbandry of the old German was of the poorest 
kind. He cultivated a piece of land one year and 


THE ANCIENT GERMAN. 


31 


let it lie fallow the next. The land was divided by 
allotment, and as the people were few in number 
there was enough for all. He knew nothing about 
raising fruit, cultivating meadow-grass, or laying 
out gardens. His food was simple, and his drink 
was mainly ale or beer, but where grapes grew, as 
along the Rhine, wine was made. He ate enormous 
quantities of meat, mainly swine’s flesh, varied a 
little by wild fruit, and milk, and perhaps cheese. 
These ancient people knew little or nothing of the 
art of cookery, or how to make food savory by 
seasoning. They ate simply to satisfy the cravings 
of nature, and all the pleasure of the feast lay in 
excessive drinking. 

Tacitus also says that they were inveterate gam- 
blers. Sluggards except when fighting or in anger, 
gluttons and drunkards at their feasts, and with a 
passion for play which led them to stake their wives 
and children on a throw of the dice, you will say 
these men must have had shining virtues to over- 
balance their savage vices. Such, indeed, they had, 
for their love of independence and civil liberty 
laid the foundation of free government in Europe. 
Their genius for law and order set the pattern for 
what is called constitutional monarchy, even in the 
woods of Germany; and their respect for woman 
and the marriage bond established the home and 
made family life secure. When respect grew into 
reverence and worship, chivalry was instituted in 
Europe, and by its influence helped to soften and 
refine brutish manners, and to raise many barbarous 
nations up to a civilized state. 


32 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER III. 

LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 

HE savage is gradually changed into a civil- 



JL ized man by the development of the best in- 
stincts and traits of character, which, as a savage, 
the ancient German possessed. We have seen that 
he had great respect for woman, and looked upon 
the marriage bond as sacred. Out of this grew 
home and family life, and the permanency of prop- 
erty rights. Respect for woman, and her conse- 
quent liberty and enlightenment, is one of the great 
dividing lines between Eastern and Western nations, 
between Asia, and Europe and America, and we 
must look to the woods of ancient Germany to see 
where it first took root. 

It will be interesting to know what our remote 
ancestors thought about government, and how they 
managed to rule the State, which was in its infancy 
when Tacitus wrote his famous chronicle. So far as 
we know, every German tribe had its chief; and the 
king was elected, probably, from some one of these 
chief families. The chiefs corresponded to the no- 
bles of a later day. When an election of a king 
was to take place the sons of deceased kings may 
have had the preference ; although the people seem 
to have retained the privilege of choosing another 


LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 


33 


man if he were judged better fitted for the place. 
The king was not a despot ; his power was limited 
by the assembly of the people, which met at least 
once a year. Our Saxon forefathers called this 
assembly Witenagemote. Among the Scandinavi- 
ans it was called Thing or Althing. This primitive 
assembly, where the people gave their assent to the 
laws by shouting or clashing their arms, was the 
forerunner of the English Parliament, the American 
Congress, and every other representative body of 
men ; the difference being, that in these assemblies 
the people are represented by men whom they elect 
to make the laws, while in the old assemblies the 
■whole people came together to make laws for them- 
selves. 

The king was chosen on account of his noble 
birth and distinguished family, through which he 
probably traced his origin back to the gods. When 
the election took place the people raised him up on 
a shield in the open field where they met, so that 
the whole nation might behold their king. If the 
king was a great military chieftain he took com- 
mand of the army in time of war ; but if he was 
unskilled in the use of arms, a general was ap- 
pointed, who, for the time, commanded the forces. 
In ancient warfare every thing depended on the per- 
sonal prowess of the chieftain. He always led the 
attack and animated his soldiers by his valor. 

The power of executing the laws was handed 
over to the priests, who inherited their office, and 
were thought to be divinely appointed. The pun- 
ishment of criminals was entirely in their hands, 
3 


34 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

and was executed as a religious penalty rather than 
as a decree of human justice. When men were 
tried for crimes it was supposed that the gods sat 
in judgment on them and pronounced the sentence. 
In Norway and Iceland criminals were offered as a 
sacrifice to the gods at solemn religious festivals, and 
no doubt the same custom prevailed in old Germany. 
It is probable that the bodies of the victims were 
suspended from trees in those dark and mysterious 
groves where they worshiped. The king was un- 
doubtedly the high priest, and conducted the most 
important religious ceremonies in person. Such, for 
many ages, was the custom in Norway, while relig- 
ion and government remained one and the same. 
The grandest religious festivals were held at the 
meeting of the Althing, or general assembly of the 
people. 

When the ancient Germans went into battle they 
fought in families, like the clans of the Scottish 
Highlands, but they followed the customs of the 
Cimbri in placing their wives and children in full 
view of the battle-field, where they could hear their 
cries and shrieks in the heat of conflict. Their 
courage was raised to fury by the wailings or rejoic- 
ings of mothers, sisters, and wives ; and if they re- 
treated, or showed cowardice, we know, as in the 
case of the Cimbri, what a terrible fate awaited 
them at the hands of those stern women, who 
counted life nothing as compared with the honor 
and manhood of the men of their nation. When 
the women, who were seated upon wagons and 
chariots, saw their warriors beginning to waver, 


LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 


35 


they drove them back with taunts and blows, while 
at the same time they wept, tore their hair, and 
implored that they might not be permitted to fall 
into captivity. Nothing appeared so insupportable 
to the ancient German as the thought of his women 
led away into bondage. He believed women were 
the sacred half of hu’manity, and both religion and 
instinct seem to have rooted this faith in his mind 
and conscience. 

The horrors which awaited the women prisoners 
perhaps had much to do with the influence they 
exerted on the battle-field. It is impossible for us 
to picture to ourselves the brutalities of ancient 
warfare. In the breasts of those German women 
fear for their fate was united with intense pride of 
race and the highest courage, and thus they became 
the inspirers and punishers of men. But they also 
filled a more humane office, for they were the only 
physicians of that age, and followed the army in 
the capacity of leeches. The women attended to 
the wounded, and had sufficient surgical skill to 
stanch the flow of blood and bind up shattered 
limbs. 

There was a still higher distinction belonging to 
women. They were the valas or prophetesses of 
the people, directly inspired, as it was believed, by 
the gods. The old Germans had oracles like the 
Greeks, and these inspired women gave answers to 
the questions which the people came to ask of 
heaven. Far better than the sacred character, with 
which some other nations invested woman, was the 
high position she attained among the old Germans, 


36 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

where she was looked upon as the equal and com- 
panion of man. So far was this idea carried, that 
her dress was almost the same as the dress of the 
men. She was devoid of vanity, the old historian 
tells us, and knew none of the arts, so much prized 
by Roman women, for adorning her person with 
jewels and rich clothing. 

When the wife came to live with her husband 
she brought no money or goods from her father’s 
house — her own worth was considered wealth enough. 
Her husband gave her no trinkets or gewgaws, but 
he presented his bride with a pair of oxen, a horse 
saddled and bridled, a shield, a spear, and a sword. 
In return she made him a present of arms. This 
interchange of gifts seems to have constituted the 
marriage ceremony. Her husband’s present indi- 
cated that she was expected to share all his toils 
and dangers. She was to till the fields and help 
amid the perils of war. Even more than half the 
burdens of life fell upon her shoulders. These 
mighty and ferocious women are not very charming 
to contemplate from our point of view. They had 
courage in place of tenderness, and strength instead 
of grace. But in them were the germs of all that 
makes the modern woman noble, devoted, high- 
minded, and pure. The ideal of gentle and com- 
passionate womanhood was given to the North by 
Christianity. The beautiful fragrant flower was 
grafted on the rugged stem described by Tacitus, 
and out of the union must come the perfect woman. 
Tacitus held up to admiration the domestic virtues 
of the German women, and contrasted them with 


LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 


37 


the hideous vices of old Rome. It is possible that 
he has colored the picture a little too highly to 
make the contrast more impressive ; but we can 
view his sketch of our ancestress in the Northern 
woods, who is the same woman we find in all the 
old Sagas and legends, and in the Eddas them- 
selves, with a certain gratitude and pride, thankful 
that she was not a slave in the harem of an Eastern 
despot, but a free savage, with a certain grandeur 
and courage all her own. 

Marriage with them was a strict and sacred insti- 
tution. One wife for one husband was the rule, 
although sometimes a chief, who wished to 
strengthen his alliance with another tribe, took a 
second wife, for political interest, from some power- 
ful family. The women were constant and true to 
their husbands. They knew nothing of pleasure or 
fashion, of costly dress, or rich and dainty feasts. 
Luxury had not yet made them idle and self-indul- 
gent. They could not read or write, and were not 
drawn into intrigues by secret correspondence, or 
corrupted by bad books. Strength of body and 
mind was their distinguishing trait. They were 
not good housewives, and knew nothing of the deli- 
cate and refined art of cookery, but they could till 
the fields, and, if need were, don a sword and buck- 
ler, and go out to fight by the side of their hus- 
bands. They were seldom untrue to the marriage 
bond, and when they were, the crime brought ter- 
rible punishment. Tacitus tells us that in the Ger- 
man forests virtuous manners were more powerful 
than good laws. 


38 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Although we are often shocked by the vindictive- 
ness and cruelty of our Northern ancestress, we are 
thankful to her for establishing the home in those 
German forests, and making it the safeguard of the 
old life, as it is the security of our modern society. 
We know, from the Icelandic sagas and the old 
German ballads and epics, that in the course of 
ages the primitive purity of manners was changed. 
Family annals were too often stained by passion 
and crime, but through it all respect for woman 
and a determination to keep family life unpolluted, 
have been the guiding-stars of the North. 

Slavery was practiced among the Germans, as 
among all the nations of antiquity. They made 
slaves of their captives in war, but the system was 
very different from the degrading household bond- 
age practiced in old Rome. The old German had 
no domestic servants. His wife and children per- 
formed the work of the household. Each slave had 
his own house, and probably a small piece of land. 
He was obliged to furnish his master with a certain 
quantity of grain, cattle, and wearing apparel — per- 
haps woven cloth. Beyond this his lot was easy 
and not shameful. He was never whipped, man- 
acled, or condemned to hard labor. To be sure, his 
master could kill him and go unpunished, but such 
was the custom in every country where slavery ex- 
isted. Out of German slavery grew the Saxon 
born-thrall and the system of serfdom that prevailed 
all over Europe in feudal times, and bound the la- 
borer to the soil. 

Family ties were closer with the ancients than 


LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 


39 


they are with us. The state grew out of the fam- 
ily, and, at a time when a chief had only his kins- 
men for his followers, it was necessary to adopt the 
quarrels and friendships of each member of the 
family. When we come to ancient life in Iceland 
we shall see how all family injuries were avenged 
by blood or atoned for by a compensation in 
money, legally fixed ; so that each hurt, wound, or 
blow had its established price. When a man was 
killed in a quarrel it was optional with the relatives 
to take a money atonement or to pursue the quar- 
rel by blood-feud, which exacted eye for eye and 
tooth for tooth. Precisely the same system pre- 
vailed in ancient Germany, and we have a modified 
form of it in the sum which the law allows for per- 
sonal injuries on railways and in public places. 

Women, among the ancient Germans, could not 
inherit land, which was legally given to the sons. 
This rule laid the foundation of the famous Salic 
law, which, to this day, excludes women from the 
throne of France. This custom can, perhaps, be 
traced to a very remote antiquity, when the mar- 
ried daughter lost her position in her father’s fam- 
ily and her claim to his property, and became a 
member of the family of her husband. 

The Germans were much given to hospitality, 
and delighted in coarse and heavy feasts, at which 
they sat at table as we do. They never adopted 
the fashion of reclining on couches at meal-time, 
like the luxurious Romans. The bard or poet, who 
was an important character, sang to them while 
they feasted, and praised the brave deeds of their 


40 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

forefathers and their own heroic acts. They had a 
curious habit of discussing the most important mat- 
ters at these drinking-bouts, while under the influ- 
ence of liquor ; but they reserved their decision 
until the next day, when their heads were cool and 
their judgment sober. 

The boys were inured to exercise and to hardship 
from their earliest years. When a boy came of age 
a shield and javelin were given him, and he entered 
upon the rights and duties of a citizen and began 
his education in arms. War was the only road to 
fame ; for literature, art, and commerce did not ex- 
ist. There were no books, no schools, and no 
trades. It was the ambition of every young man 
to attach himself to some famous chief, whom he 
was eager to emulate, and whom he was bound to 
defend while living, and to avenge if slain by the 
hand of an enemy. It was a shame to the chief to 
be surpassed in valor by any of his followers, but 
the young men felt an eager desire to outdo his 
most daring feats, and the spirit of emulation was 
raised to the highest pitch. 

It was the custom among some tribes to present 
contributions of corn and cattle to the king or chief. 
This was the beginning of the great system of tax- 
ation by which modern governments are supported. 
The king differed from other men only by his rank. 
The most ancient idea of the king was, that in 
prowess and valor he must excel all the other men 
of his tribe ; but not all the ancient kings came up 
to this standard, and when royal power became 
hereditary it was forgotten. The king lived by 


LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 


41 


cultivating his land and by the spoils of war. All 
small and local affairs were settled by the chiefs, 
who were also priests ; but larger concerns, partak- 
ing of the nature of national interests, were decided 
at the general assembly of the people. They came 
together on these occasions either at the new or the 
full moon. Tacitus tells us the chiefs were seldom 
punctual to the day, for their proud spirit of inde- 
pendence led them to fear if they answered the 
summons at once it would be construed as an act 
of submission. Each man took his seat in the as- 
sembly armed to the teeth, and it was formally 
opened by the king. All who were entitled to the 
privilege, by rank and personal qualities, might 
speak and propose measures for the public weal, 
but no man was allowed to dictate to the assembly 
or override the will of the people. 

If the people were displeased at any proposal 
brought forward in the assembly they openly mur- 
mured against it ; if they approved, they brandished 
their javelins and clashed their arms. This wag the 
first rude method of voting, by which the sense or 
will of the people was taken in public matters. At 
these assemblies acts of treason and all great offenses 
were judged and punished. In that age cowardice 
was the worst crime known to the law, and cowards 
were smothered in mud. Manslaughter, as I have 
told you, could be punished by the relatives of the 
dead, or atoned for by a payment of money. All 
smaller crimes were subjects of fines in horses and 
cattle. Part of this fine went to the king and part 
to the people, and made the beginning of the pub- 


42 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

lie treasury, by which the government is maintained, 
and of the king’s privy purse. I have already told 
you that the kings and chiefs were elected in the 
assembly, and that the great religious festivals coin- 
cided with these meetings. Then criminals were 
solemnly executed and offered as a sacrifice to the 
gods, who, it was believed, personally maintained 
justice upon earth. 

The Germans were poor, and ignorant of the 
precious and useful metals which lay buried under 
the surface of the country. Their sole riches were 
their flocks and herds, and all their business was 
carried on by barter. If a man needed cloth, he, 
perhaps, brought an ox to exchange for it, and in 
time a rude market sprang up where those who had 
articles to exchange could meet regularly on ap- 
pointed days, and thus trade and commerce were 
established. The Romans, we are told, taught the 
Germans the use of coin. They had no coined 
money of their own, and no gold or silver until 
they were brought from foreign parts. They did 
not even know how to take iron from the earth, 
and could work it but imperfectly in the first cen- 
tury of our era. 

Their principal weapon was a javelin, called fram, 
tipped with iron, and which, as they fought naked, 
or nearly so, they could throw to a great distance. 
We know that the old Cimbri wore helmets, shaped 
like the heads of ferocious animals ; but the Ger- 
mans fought almost unprotected by defensive armor. 
Pointed stones were attached in some way to their 
arms, and although a spear, tipped with iron, was 


LIFE IN OLD GERMANY. 


43 


their chief weapon, this shows that they were just 
emerging from what is called the stone age, when 
all knives and cutting implements and instruments 
of warfare were made of sharpened flints. They 
also fought with darts and clubs hardened by fire. 

The German’s pride of equipment lay in his 
shield, made of osier twigs or wood, and gayly 
painted. The devices upon such shields afterward 
grew into coats of arms for the nobility. When a 
chief performed some great feat he put a symbol of 
it upon his shield, which was adopted by his family, 
and became a token of their rank. It is probable 
that many of the customs of chivalry grew out of 
the ancient mode of fighting before the women. 
The joust and tournament of the Middle Ages, 
when knights fought for the prize of beauty, was 
only a refined form of the old German battle. 

I have already spoken of the dark and mysterious 
groves. Some of these were held too sacred to be 
profaned by human footsteps. We are told of one 
tribe who began their rites in the consecrated wood 
by the slaughter of a human victim. The place 
was invested with such superstitious horror that no 
man could enter it without being bound by a chain 
to denote his sense of humility and the majesty of 
the god. If he happened to fall upon the ground 
he did not presume to rise, but crawled abjectly out 
of the wood. There was a tradition that the whole 
German nation took its origin from this spot — the 
earthly home of the one supreme god, who held 
all things in a chain of dependence on his will. 

The ancient Germans were no less superstitious 


44 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 

than other savage and half-civilized races. They 
had a multitude of signs and omens, many of which 
have come down to us in a disguised form. They 
foretold events by the flight and the notes of birds, 
and by means of sacred horses. A number of white 
horses were kept harnessed to chariots in a sacred 
grove, and their motions and neighings were ob- 
served by the priests, who interpreted them as pre- 
dictions of future events. Horses were sacred to 
the god Frey, and it is probable that these cere- 
monies were connected with his worship. You will 
remember that Darius was chosen king of Persia by 
the neighing of a horse. The school-boy, when he 
draws lots with his mates, little thinks that he has 
inherited the custom from a remote past, and that 
his German forefathers invested it with great sanc- 
tity. Their mode of casting lots was to cut the 
branch of a tree into small pieces, each distinctly 
marked. These were thrown on a white cloth or 
garment, and the priest who wished to read the 
future prayed to the gods, and held up each piece 
of twig three times, and, by the marks upon them, 
read the decrees of fate. 

If we wish to know how an old German chief was 
buried we have but to open Homer’s “ Iliad,” and 
read of the funeral of Patroclus, which, with the 
exception of the games there described, was much 
the same. He was buried along with his arms, his 
horses, and sometimes his slaves or captives in 
war, and a great mound of turf was raised to his 
memory. 

Here, in the pages of the old historian, we have 


LIFE IN OLD GERMAN * 


*6 

a vivid picture of our half-naked ancestors, some of 
whom painted their bodies. He tells us of one 
tribe who carried black shields, and stained their 
skins with a dark dye. 

Caesar tells us that the Britons, whom he sub- 
dued — the remote ancestors of the Welsh and the 
Scotch Highlanders — when they went into battle 
painted their bodies a deep blue color, which made 
them very frightful to behold. Those fierce Britons, 
who retired before the Saxon and Danish conquer- 
ors to Caledonia, were called Piets, because they 
fantastically painted their bodies and shields. Valor 
was the supreme virtue, cowardice the supreme 
vice, among our ancestors, whether we call them 
Saxon or Norman. The two were near of kin and 
shared each others manners, customs, modes of life, 
and religious ideas. In time, as we shall see, the 
exaggerated courage of the Norseman, united to a 
hardy and strong body, led him to piracy and ra- 
pine, and made him the terror of Europe. 


46 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 

H AVING looked at the ancient German in 
what were then the backwoods of Europe, it 
is now time to take a peep at his near kinsman, the 
old Scandinavian, who was essentially the same 
man, slightly changed by climate and modes of 
living. The root ideas in the old German mind, 
worthy of development, were courage, independ- 
ence, respect for woman, and love of home and 
domestic life. These we find equally strong in the 
character of the Norseman, who belonged to that 
branch of the Scandinavian family in which we are 
particularly interested. Both races brought the 
elements of their religion from the old home in 
Asia. We know too little of the ancient faith of 
the Germans to say how far these were changed in 
Germany, but nearly the whole system of Norse 
religion has been preserved to us by the industry 
of Icelandic writers, and we perceive that the rug- 
ged, grand nature of the scenery of Norway, its 
mountains, and its tumultuous sea and long severe 
winters, wrought upon the imagination of men, and 
effected changes in the old faith by filling the myths 
with images of wonder and sublimity, which, per- 
haps, were wanting in their original form. 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 47 

The old German was a mighty man of war, and 
loved nothing but fighting; but the ancient Scandi- 
navian was even fiercer and more untamable. War 
was the one passion of his mind, and resistance to the 
extreme cold of the North made him the strongest 
man in Europe. This love of war stamped itself 
deeply on his religion, and his chief god became the 
god of battle. 

We do not even hear of Scandinavia until after 
Britain threw off the Roman yoke, and the fierce 
German tribes, which could not be subdued, dashed 
themselves upon the South, and overwhelmed the 
Roman Empire. Not until nearly the middle of the 
ninth century does the Norseman make his exist- 
ence felt in the affairs of Europe. Then he sprang 
suddenly into notice, and for more than two cent- 
uries was the scourge of most maritime countries ; 
for he became master of the sea, and learned the 
management of ships, and even ventured to cross 
the wide Atlantic and explore the shores of unknown 
America, while other nations were creeping around 
the edges of Europe, afraid to venture more than a 
short distance from land. The dash and daring of 
the Norse sea-rover infused new blood and vigor 
into many nations, and we of the English stock are 
greatly indebted to him. 

There were* no Northern annals or histories writ- 
ten before Christianity was established in the North. 
The ancient Scandinavians, and perhaps the Ger- 
mans, regarded the Runic letters with superstitious 
awe, and used them principally for charms and in- 
cantations, or, in later times, for simple inscriptions 


43 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

on tombstones or legends on swords, drinking-cups, 
and sacrificial vessels used in the temples. It would 
be very interesting to know who invented this old 
Runic alphabet, but we have no hint of its origin. 
The sacredness with which it was regarded leads us 
to suppose it was attributed to the gods. We are 
told there were Runes written on the teeth of Odin’s 
horse, Sleipnir. The mysterious awe with which 
letters were regarded probably prevented them from 
coming into common use as a means of communica- 
tion or for the transcribing of events. Though the 
Norsemen made but little practical use of Runes, 
the possession of an alphabet is one of the most re- 
markable things connected with their early history. 
We may say there was no writing in the North, for 
the ballads and traditions, of which the Eddas and 
Sagas are composed, were handed down by word of 
mouth, from one age to another. 

Though Tacitus tells us that the early Germans, 
who were undoubtedly worshipers of Odin or Wod- 
en, had no temples, and performed their rites in 
groves, when we discover the Norsemen we find 
them worshiping in temples and adoring images of 
the gods. Probably the severity of the climate in 
the far North may have had much to do in estab- 
lishing temple-worship. The first temple was per- 
haps built of logs, and adorned with the image of 
Thor or Odin rudely carved from the trunk of a 
tree. 

When we first discover the old faith, just previous 
to the introduction of Christianity in the North, it 
was on its decline. Men had begun to lose confi- 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 49 

dence in a multitude of gods, and though many 
clung obstinately to the old faith, through a long 
period of time, while it was slowly dying, and even 
fought and bled for it, the age when the sublime 
myths of Ragnaroc and the Yggdrasill-tree took 
root was long past. The great skalds or poets who 
composed the poems of the elder Edda must have 
lived at some period between the time of Tacitus 
and the age of Harald Fairhai.r in Norway. They 
adorned their faith and gave it a permanent form, 
as Homer adorned and embellished the Greek relig- 
ion. We derive our ancestral claim to these beau- 
tiful myths both from the German and the Scandi- 
navian side. After the conquest of England by the 
Saxons under Hengist and Horsa, three quarters 
of the settlers who came into the island were Danes 
— true Norsemen — and, as every school-child knows, 
the final conquest was made by Norsemen — the Nor- 
mans — under the leadership of the great William. 

As I have told you, the early history, poetry, and 
mythology of the North all flow to us from Iceland. 
If those industrious people had not been fond of 
writing down the tales of their forefathers, and had 
not possessed wit enough to see their value, many 
important links in the chain of events would be 
wanting which it would now be impossible to sup- 
ply. Snorro Sturleson, a distinguished Icelander, 
who made a prose abridgment of the old Edda, 
called the younger Edda, was the first one to com- 
pile a book of the early kings of Norway, called 
Heimskringla, which means simply, Book of the 

Kings. 

4 


50 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Some of the early kings are fabulous, and an at- 
tempt is made in this book to trace their lineage up 
to the gods. The Greeks had the same weakness 
for divine ancestors, and most other nations have 
shown a kindred propensity. When the old chron- 
icler came to the end of real history he let his 
imagination fill the gap. 

In the very dawn of probable history we hear of 
one Olaf, who went into the wilderness west of 
Sweden, and began clearing the land. For this 
reason he was called the “ Chopper.” He named 
the place Warmland, perhaps because it was shel- 
tered by woods and mountains. Here he gathered 
about him all the restless, discontented spirits of his 
nation, and set up one cf those petty states that 
then filled the North. The land was unproductive, 
and the people were poor and miserable. There 
came a bad year when the crops failed, and starva- 
tion stared them in the face. Then they com- 
plained and looked darkly on the king, or jarl, as he 
was probably called. They were sunk in supersti- 
tion, and their sufferings seemed a sign of the anger 
of a vindictive god, who thirsted for human blood. 
Judging that the unlucky Olaf had neglected some 
of his religious duties, and thus brought a curse 
upon them, they seized him and offered him up as 
a sacrifice to Odin. After the bad deed was done 
some of the wiser heads began to reflect on the 
cause of their misery. The killing of Olaf had not 
filled their mouths with bread, and they now saw 
that the settlement was too crowded. There were 
more people than the land could support ; so they 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 5 1 

crossed the mountains into Norway, and, having 
made Halfdan Whitebone, the son of the luckless 
Olaf, their king, they conquered several petty states 
in the south and established a new power. Half- 
dan lived and died, and was succeeded by his son 
and his grandson, another Halfdan, who was in his 
day a famous viking or sea-rover. 

This is the first time we hear of the Viking, who 
was destined to make Europe tremble. It was a 
high-sounding name for robber and pirate. Viking 
does not literally mean “king of the sea.” The word 
means “ frequenter of creeks and inlets,” and refers, 
probably, to the Norseman’s custom of hiding along 
the shore to watch for his prey. This King Halfdan 
acquired the curious epithet of “ magnificent and 
food-sparing.” He lavished money on his men, but 
denied them bread. Gold, which could be seized 
on board of foreign ships, was more abundant than 
food, which the barren soil of Norway produced 
but sparingly. The viking’s calling was at that 
time the only one considered a fit occupation for a 
gentleman ; and though we should now look with 
horror upon the deeds of those old sea-rovers, we 
must remember that much depends upon the age 
in which men live and the moral sanctions under 
which they are educated. 

The kingdom was divided between the viking’s 
two sons, Olaf and Halfdan the Black, in 841, we 
are told, but ancient dates in the far North are 
always uncertain. Halfdan the Black was the father 
of the famous Harold Harfagra, or Harfager, who, 
by his force and energy, succeeded in subduing the 


52 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

whole of Norway to his control, and making a 
strong, united government. Before his time the 
country was divided into a number of petty states, 
ruled by little chiefs, who were continually at war 
with each other, and thus kept the people poor and 
miserable. The great Charlemagne had taught the 
world how to subdue these wretched little despots, 
and to establish what is called a central government, 
with a powerful king at its head and Harald did 
but follow his example. 

There is a pretty romance connected with the 
setting up of Harald’s kingdom, which tells us that 
he fell in love with a beautiful maiden named Gyda, 
and sent embassadors to sue for her hand. But 
Gyda was haughty and proud in the extreme. She 
replied that she did not choose to marry an insig- 
nificant jarl, but a powerful king. Harald mused 
long on her reply. He did not abandon the hope 
of winning Gyda, but he determined to conquer 
Norway and lay it at her feet. According to the 
custom of the country he made a vow not to cut 
or comb his hair until the land was subdued. It 
took him twelve years to fulfill that vow, and, in the 
meantime, his hair had grown to a state of shaggy 
wildness hard to imagine. It would appear that dur- 
ing all those long years he had scarcely stopped to 
bathe, but when the land was conquered, and even 
the western island Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, 
and Man had come under his sway, he went to pay 
a visit to a good friend of his, named Jarl Rbgn- 
wald, (Reginald.) While there the king took a bath, 
which so changed his appearance for the better that 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 53 

he came out in bright new colors. His friend, who 
performed the office of barber, and clipped his huge 
mane, called him Harfagra, Fair-haired, or Fairfax, 
as we say in English. Newly washed and combed, 
and clad, perhaps, in new clothes, he went to pay 
court to the Princess Gyda, who now smiled upon 
him, and in time became his wife. 

This tale is doubtless true ; but Harald,in getting 
control of Norway, was only obeying the tendency 
of his age, to raise kingly power above the control 
of miserable little chiefs and jarls, who were always 
at war, and to create a strong government, which 
was then the only means of bringing in the reign of 
law and order. Harald’s reign is of especial impor- 
tance to us, because of the great emigration to Ice- 
land from Norway which then took place, and was 
mainly caused by the new king’s high-handed meas- 
ures. ,In consolidating his kingdom Harald struck 
a deep blow at the dignity and self-importance of 
the chiefs who had before ruled, each over his scrap 
of territory. The tenure of land was changed. All 
Norway now belonged to the crown, and, no doubt, 
was taxed heavily to support the new government. 
Many members of the best and oldest families 
shook off Harald’s yoke and emigrated to Iceland, 
taking along with them the laws, customs, and 
religious rites of their country, and sometimes even 
the wood of which their new habitations were to be 
built. 

At first these malcontents settled in the West- 
ern Islands, as they were then called — the .islands 
of Man, Anglesey, Lewis, and Faroe. Here they 


54 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

equipped themselves as vikings, and went back and 
plundered the shores of Norway. But Harald Fair- 
hair was not to be trifled with. He came after 
them in hot pursuit, and laid waste the Western 
Islands with fire and sword, and his rebellious sub- 
jects were driven still farther off, to the shores of 
Iceland, where, by and by, we shall see the new 
settlers at home. A great rush of emigration set in 
toward that frozen land. Those heroic Norsemen 
defied hunger and cold, but they would not bear 
tamely the rule of one whom they looked upon in 
the light of an oppressor. The best and noblest 
men in Harald’s kingdom were shaking the dust of 
Norway from their feet. Harald tried in vain to 
check the exodus by fining the emigrants. Within 
twenty years after the first settler, Ingolf, had cast 
ashore the pillars of his High Seat, on the savage 
and desert coast, fifty thousand pagan Norsemen, 
devout worshipers of Thor and Odin, were settled 
on the habitable fringe of coast that borders the 
great mountains of ice and fire in the center of the 
island. 

This settlement of Iceland took place in the year 
874 of our era. It was a memorable event in Har- 
ald’s long reign of sixty years, although the histori- 
ans do not make much of it. But there was another 
of even greater moment to us. You remenber Jarl 
Rognwald, of More, Harald’s friend and barber, who 
clipped his locks and named him Fairhair. This 
jarl had a famous viking son, named Rolf the Ran- 
ger, so named, it is said, because his legs were too 
long for a horse, and he was forced to go on -foot. 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 55 

Rolf had three little islands of his own in the far 
North, but his chief business was sea-roving. Har- 
. aid had passed a severe law sternly forbidding his 
sea-rovers from harrying the coast of Norway. He 
did not concern himself about what they did in 
other lands, but he meant to keep the peace at 
home. One day bold Rolf defied the king, landed 
in Norway, and drove off some cattle. King Har- 
ald banished him, in spite of his mother’s prayers 
and entreaties, and Rolf sailed away in his ship 
and got possession of that part of France which is 
called Normandy, and peopled it with his vikings 
and others of his own race. In time it became a 
powerful dukedom, and about the middle of the 
eleventh century William, a descendant of Rolf the 
sea-rover, became the conqueror of England. 

In the time of Harald Fairhair, that strong and 
redoubtable first king of Norway, who reigned until 
nearly the end of the ninth century, Norway was 
wholly a pagan land. Odin was a patriarch among 
the gods, and each father of a family became a 
priest in his own house, if he chose to exercise the 
priestly office ; but the recognized priests were the 
chiefs or barons of herads, or districts, called hersir. 
The name for priest in Norway and Iceland was 
godi, a term derived from god, and which means a 
servant of the Most High. Hofgodi was a term 
used to designate the priest who officiated in a hof 
or temple. The temple was also called god-a-hus, 
or house of the gods, or blothus, which means house 
of sacrifice. The Northern worship was called asa 
worship, or worship of the asas, or gods. Women 


56 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

sometimes performed sacred rites in the temples, 
both in Norway and Iceland, and such a priestess 
was called a hof-gydia. 

The chief hersir, or godi, of a district generally 
owned his temple, where he celebrated the stated 
festivals and sacrificed to the gods. Sometimes 
other priests of the neighborhood joined him in 
these ceremonies ; but the priest in whose tem- 
ple they were held presided, and sat in the high 
seat. The expenses of the religious feasts were 
paid by contributions from the people who came 
to attend them, and who brought casks of ale and 
all kinds of food to furnish the tables. Sometimes 
a rich and generous chieftain, who was hof-godi, 
would bear all the expense of a festival and furnish 
it from his own stores. Then the people praised 
him loudly. In Norway, after the time of Harald 
Fairhair, the king became the chief priest, and con- 
ducted all the great sacrifices in person. 

There was a difference of worship in different 
regions, which caused sects, as we should say, in 
the Norse religion. Odin was worshiped in every 
part as all-father, the supreme god ; but, aside from 
this, the people had their favorite deities. Thor 
was the darling god of the people of Norway and 
Iceland, while Frey, the god of the fruitful earth, 
was deeply revered in Sweden. 

The creed of the Norsemen in Harold Fairhair’s 
time was, as we shall see, deeply tinged with fatal- 
ism — the belief that all events were fixed and unal- 
terable by a decree of the gods. The people had 
devout faith in necromancy and magic, which grew 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 57 

from the idea that the will of some god is made 
manifest in the smallest event of life. All modern 
superstitions connected with signs and omens have 
come down to us as remains of those ancient super- 
stitions connected with the pagan religion. They 
paid great attention to dreams and visions. They 
possessed oracles, like the Greeks, and inspired 
women, who gave answers to questions. They 
gathered hints of the future from the entrails of 
animals and the flight of birds. All these things 
seem to have belonged to a common stock of relig- 
ious ideas which they brought from their old, for- 
gotten Eastern home. 

The Norseman, like the Greek, believed in the 
three Fates, which he called Norns. The rigor of 
his climate, and the shadow of the earth in which 
he lived so large a part of the year, tinged his relig- 
ion with gloom and caused him to dwell on the final 
destruction of the earth and the passing away of 
the gods. His faith was not sunny and bright, like 
that of the old Greek, who spent so much of his 
life in the sunshine, but it was heroic and sublime. 
Though he knew the decrees of fate were unalter- 
able, he faced them with manly courage, glad to 
meet any form of heroic death. He dreaded a 
quiet, peaceable death in bed from wasting sick- 
ness or old age ; for then he believed Odin would 
not welcome him to the joys of Valhalla, and 
he would be excluded from the company of the 
brave. 

In Harald’s time these were the ruling ideas in 
Norway, although, as I have said, faith in the old 


58 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

gods had already begun to decline in the minds 
of the most thoughtful and intelligent men. This 
we see in the oath of the great Harald Harfagra 
himself, which is given as follows : “ I swear never 
to make any offerings to an idol, but to trust God 
alone, whose omnipotence has formed the world and 
stamped man with his own image. It would be an 
act of folly in me to expect help from him whose 
power and empire arise from the accidental hollow 
of a tree or the peculiar form of a stone/’ 

But King Harald was greatly in advance of his 
people, and for many generations the temple still 
stood near the thingstead, or place of assembly, 
with its ring of doom-stones, twelve in number; 
where the judges sat to judge the people. Near 
every thingfield was placed the stone of sacrifice, 
where, horrible to relate, the backs of human vic- 
tims were broken. But, I have already told you, 
these victims were generally criminals condemned 
to death, and solemnly executed to satisfy the just- 
ice of heaven. We know, however, as in the case 
of luckless Olaf, that human beings were sometimes 
offered up to appease the wrath of the gods. There 
was also a dreadful well in the vicinity of the tem- 
ple and the thingfield, where human sacrifices were 
sometimes drowned. It is with shuddering horror 
that we confess these dark practices of our fore- 
fathers, but the truth must be told. In later times 
they were not frequent, and probably only occurred 
when, in a period of pestilence or famine, the fears 
of the ignorant people drove them to a state of 
frenzy. 


THE AGE OF HARALD FAIRHAIR. 59 

The usual sacrifices were oxen, swine, and sheep, 
fattened for the festival. One end of the hof, or 
temple, formed a kind of altar, around which the 
images of the gods were placed in a half circle. 
Another altar of iron stood near, with a brazen 
bowl to receive the blood of the victims. With a 
brush the priest sprinkled the worshipers, the walls 
of the hof, the idols, and shrine, and smeared a 
great silver ring which always hung in the temple, 
and was used by oath-takers to swear upon. The 
fat of the sacrifice was melted and used to anoint 
the images, which were rubbed by the women. 
The flesh was boiled in a huge pot hung over a 
fire in the middle of the temple. The people sat 
down on long benches ranged on either side the 
table, and the priest took his position in the high 
seat, or place of honor, and blessed the food and 
drink. 

The custom of drinking toasts and healths, which 
we still practice, came down to us from those old 
feasts. The chief first gave a sacred toast to great 
Odin, chief of the gods, for victory and strength in 
battle. Next he drank to Njord and Frey, earth- 
gods, for peace and good harvests. A third cup 
was quaffed to Thor, the almighty god, as he was 
called, because he personified strength and, in 
his character of nature-god, the powerful thunder. 
Then Bragi was called upon, the god of song and 
eloquence, and Freyja, the Northern Venus, god- 
dess of love ; and, last of all, they drank a cup 
to the memory of dead kinsmen and friends, 
which, surely, was a beautiful and touching cus- 


60 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

tom. When Christianity came to be fully estab- 
lished in the North, and the old gods were partly 
forgotten, the people still kept up the habit of 
drinking healths, and the priests allowed them to 
call upon Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary instead 
of Odin and Thor. 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 


6 1 


CHAPTER V. 

LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 

I N finding out how the old Icelanders lived in 
their houses, toiled in their fields, and thought 
and felt about the great facts of life, we are in some 
sort finding out how the Norsemen, Danes, and 
Swedes lived, and what manner of men they were. 

I am going to give you some account of old Ice- 
land, because we have details about many things 
in Iceland which we cannot get, as early as the 
ninth century, in the north of Europe. The Ice- 
lander was only the Norseman transplanted. He 
did not seek to create a new civilization, new laws 
and customs ; but, under slightly-varying circum- 
stances, to continue and perpetuate the old. Life 
in Iceland was, therefore, a picture of life and man- 
ners as they existed in Norway at or before the 
time of Harald Fairhair. 

The Icelanders were great story-tellers. They 
loved to narrate family histories around the fire in 
the long winter nights, and the narrow world in 
which they lived gave great importance to such 
histories, and made them seem worthy to be kept 
in mind and handed down orally from one genera- 
tion to another. These stories are called sagas, lit- 
erally, says. Most of them are a record of facts, 


62 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

though in time they were doubtless somewhat al- 
tered by being held in the memory, and passed 
from one generation to another by word of mouth. 
Within about sixty years after the Icelanders learned 
to write in the Latin language most of these sagas 
were written down. Though they cannot be abso- 
lutely relied upon for accuracy of dates and minor 
particulars, competent scholars have decided that 
they are in the main true, and we learn from them 
a thousand interesting and instructive facts in re- 
gard to ancient life in the North which are not 
elsewhere to be found. 

If you look at the map you will see that the 
northern boundary of Iceland just grazes the arctic 
circle, and brings it within the verge of the frozen 
regions. The island contains about forty thousand 
square miles, and is larger than Ireland, but the 
center is a mass of volcanic and ice mountains, 
huge glaciers and horrible deserts, which have 
scarcely yet been thoroughly explored. In our 
geography books we have all read of the wonder- 
ful geysers, or hot springs, which cast up great 
columns of steam and boiling water. They are 
only one of the marvels of the land, for the whole 
island is a scene of the most violent contrast of ice 
and fire forever contending. Geologists tell us the 
island was cast up from the sea by volcanic action. 
As many as thirty volcanoes have been counted, 
which at times are subject to violent eruptions, 
when they pour down on the plains showers of 
ashes and torrents of mud and red-hot lava. 
The largest mountains are called jokuls, and are 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 


63 

thickly plated with ice. They send down vast gla- 
ciers to the sea. Five of these burn within while 
they freeze without, and in summer the ice par- 
tially melts, and forms rushing rivers and roaring 
torrents. There are vast, desolate lava tracts in 
Iceland ; deserts full of black, jagged rocks, and re- 
gions grim with sulphur beds and volcanic sand — 
places where no kind of plant or flower or weed 
can grow x and no living thing find subsistence. 

But this horrible land of desolation and death is 
edged by a pleasant country, with many pretty 
green valleys opening toward the sea. The climate 
was evidently warmer and the land more produc- 
tive when the first Norse settlers landed in Iceland. 
Ingolf and those who followed him found the country 
covered with a thick growth of beech-trees,. These 
forests have all disappeared. They were probably 
of a small and stunted kind, for the timber of which 
the old Icelandic halls were built was all brought 
from Norway. 

As early as the eighth century some Irish hermits, 
perhaps converted to Christianity by the preach- 
ing of St. Patrick, had found their way to Iceland, 
and built cells, where they spent their lives - in 
prayer and meditation. They vanished — none can 
tell how or when — and left unmistakable evidence 
of their residence on the island. 

In 867 a Norseman named Floke, in consequence 
of some reports brought by two navigators, sailed 
directly for Iceland. He is said to have been 
guided on this voyage of discovery by the flight of 
a raven, which he let loose at sea. This bird was 


64 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

sacred to Odin, and doubtless Floke believed him- 
self to be under divine guidance. He named the 
new land Iceland, on account of the great masses 
of broken and drifting ice to be seen on the North 
coast. Floke went as he came, and no attempt 
was made to people the island. We now hear of 
Ingolf, who sailed to Iceland on a voyage of explo- 
ration in 870. But he returned to Norway with- 
out making any attempt at a settlement. He soon 
got into a quarrel and killed a man, and 'to escape 
the blood feud he determined to emigrate to Ice- 
land. This happened in 874. 

Ingolf was joined by his brother-in-law, Lief of 
the Sword. He traveled, like Noah in the ark, 
with- his sons and daughters, his kinsfolk, freedmen, 
and thralls, his sheep and oxen, and the images of 
his gods. He was an ancient patriarch removing 
to a new home. A superstitious reverence was at- 
tached to the carved pillars which upheld the 
priest’s high seat, where he sat, a little above the 
rest of the company, when he gave a feast in his 
hall. These Ingolf carried along with him, and 
perhaps a little earth from old Norway, where the 
pillars were planted. When Ingolf approached Ice- 
land he threw the pillars of the high seat into the 
sea, and watched to see on what part of the coast 
the waves would drive them. This was to indicate 
the place where the gods wished him to settle. It 
so happened, if I remember rightly, that Ingolfs 
pillars were lost in the sand, and not recovered for 
three years. The chief had established himself in 
another part of the island, but, obedient to the 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 65 

sign, he fixed his final home at that point of the 
shore where the pillars were driven, and near this 
spot, in after days, arose Reikiavik, the capital of the 
island. 

Owing to what they regarded as the oppressions 
of Harald, multitudes of settlers quickly followed 
the example of Ingolf. When a settler took pos- 
session of a piece of land he hallowed it by kindling 
fires within sight of each other all around his do- 
main. The mouths of rivers were consecrated in 
the same way. We shall see in time that this cus- 
tom dates back to a very remote antiquity, and 
probably sprang from sun worship. 

For many years no towns were built in Iceland : 
the inhabitants lived like the ancient Germans — 
each apart on his separate piece of ground. A new- 
comer could take for himself a portion of land in 
the way I have described, or he could call upon the 
owner of a holding to fight with him for his domain. 
The estate then fell to the best fighter. To avoid 
this disagreeable alternative the settler was gener- 
ally willing to divide his estate with the new-comer. 
He also settled his poor kinsmen, his freedmen, 
thralls, and other dependents, on separate allot- 
ments of land. 

In Iceland the priest and the magistrate were 
one and the same, just as for many ages they were 
in Norway. All matters of religion and worship 
were managed in the colony precisely as they were 
in the mother country. The priesthoods were 
hereditary, but any man could set up an inde- 
pendent priesthood if he chose, though it might 
5 


66 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

not be recognized beyond his own estate. As a 
rule the people of the neighborhood attended the 
temple of the authorized priest, and paid their tithes 
or Church taxes by contributions to the temple serv- 
ice, and in time the whole island was divided into 
a certain number of priesthoods, which continued 
until Christianity was adopted by the Althing in the 
year 1000, and even later. Life in the island being 
more simple and democratic than in Norway, the 
chiefs did not take the title of hersir or baron, but 
were called godi, God’s servant. 

After the house and farm-buildings were erected, 
the chief who had been a man of consequence 
at home built his hof, or temple, precisely after 
the pattern he had learned in Norway, and which 
I described in the last chapter. It had its well 
and stone of sacrifice, its altars and idols, and 
holy ring on which oaths were taken, its vessels for 
holding the blood of the victim, the hearths and 
kettles for cooking the feast, and its long tables and 
benches where the feasters sat, and its high seat in 
the middle of the right-hand bench, where the 
priest sat and blessed the meat and drink. Human 
sacrifices were in great disfavor with the Icelanders, 
and there is good reason to believe they practiced 
such atrocities but seldom. We know that horse- 
flesh was one of the sacred dishes served up at the 
religious festivals, for, when Christianity was estab- 
lished, it was strictly prohibited. 

The emigration to Iceland continued about sixty 
years, and at the end of that period some fifty thou- 
sand of the best people of Norway had settled in 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 67 

the island, and had established a kind of democracy 
which lasted for several centuries. It was not a 
democracy according to our ideas, for, although the 
people had some voice in the government, the 
whole power was in the hands of the hereditary 
priest-magistrates, who were the wealthy men of 
the island. There was a perfect union of what we 
call Church and State. But the chief’s influence, 
just as among the old Germans, depended on his 
personal prowess, his fame as a warrior, and skill in 
the use of arms. His children, kinsfolk, and de- 
pendents made for him a great following. They 
rode with him to the Althing, where they were 
called thingmen, fully armed, and, like the “ tail ” 
of a Scottish chieftain, were ready to take part in 
all his quarrels and sustain him in his lawsuits. 
Some powerful chiefs often rode to the Althing at- 
tended by seven or even twelve hundred armed 
followers ; but when the old chief’s strength failed, 
from age or other causes, his adherents often 
dropped away and connected themselves with other 
temples. 

We are told that the earliest kings of Norway 
lived in a log palace, destitute of windows, and 
gradually narrowing at the top, to leave an opening 
through which the smoke could escape. At night, 
and during storms, a cover, resembling a pot-lid, 
was placed over this hole, and the royal eyes and 
nose were filled with smoke. In the tenth century 
domestic life in Iceland had vastly improved. 
Some of the chiefs brought out timber from Nor- 
way, and built themselves spacious wooden halls. 


68 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Others put up buildings of the same kind made of 
turf and stone. The house consisted of one large, 
long building, where the family worked and ate 
and slept. In all countries, as life improves, the 
privacy of different members of the family is pro- 
vided for by dividing the house into several rooms. 
But at this time, in Iceland, the dwelling was sim- 
ply one long hall, which stood free from other build- 
ings for purposes of defense. Safety, in those bar- 
barous days, was the first consideration, and every 
Icelander was liable to be besieged by his enemy in 
his own house. 

In common houses the living and sleeping-room 
was called stofa. In the chiefs’ house it was gen- 
erally very large, and was called skali, or hall, also 
eldhus or eldaskali, because great fires were kept 
burning there. Some of these halls were a hundred 
ells in length and of proportionate height and 
breadth. Here the men sat at their meals, while 
the women waited upon them. At the upper end 
of the room, where the raised seat stood, a little 
compartment was partitioned off, perhaps with cur- 
tains or folding-doors, for the ladies of the family. 
This was called the stofa, or parlor. They also had 
an apartment, called the bower, detached from the 
house, where they sat and spun, and enjoyed all 
the gossip and scandal which modern ladies are 
supposed to indulge in over the tea-table. This 
room is often referred to in the sagas ; and when, in 
ancient ballads, we read of “ my lady’s bower,” we 
may remember that it was a small detached build- 
ing occupied solely by the women. 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 69 

There were two doors to the main hall, called the 
men’s door and the women’s door, and in this re- 
spect it resembled a Quaker meeting-house. The 
hall was flanked by two long, low aisles, or wings, 
supported on pillars. Between these a wainscoting 
of richly-paneled and carved wood was placed, and 
the little closets thus formed' constituted the sleep- 
ing-rooms of the family. The main room had long 
hearths down the middle, with openings in the 
roof to discharge the smoke. Though they knew 
how to carve wood and to embroider beautifully, 
they had not learned the art of making chimneys 
and windows, and had no contrivance for their fires 
much better than the pot-lid of their ancestors. 
Rows of benches ran round each side of the room, 
and in the middle of each side stood a high seat — 
a place of honor. That on the south side, supported 
by carved pillars, was reserved for the chief, the 
head of the family. The women sat on a raised 
bench at the east end, and in later times the chief’s 
high seat was placed there. On feast-days the hall 
was decorated with beautifully-wrought tapestry and 
wood-carvings placed above it. Above the oaken 
panels hung the shields and battle-axes of the war- 
riors of the family. Here we have a picture of the 
ancient hall, closely copied all over Europe in the 
baronial castle-hall of the Middle Ages. 

The Icelander’s homestead, the road leading to 
it, and the home-fields, were inclosed by walls of 
turf and stone. The summer is very short, a brief 
gleam of light and beauty, that bursts forth suddenly 
after long months of desolation, and covers the land 


70 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

with flowers and verdure. The mountains, if not 
snow-covered, are black and bleak, scarred and ru- 
ined by burned-out fires, and the stretches of culti- 
vated land are extremely beautiful in contrast with 
these savage scenes. In ancient times, as now, but 
a few varieties of grain would grow in the most fa- 
vored spots. The valleys and uplands were chiefly 
devoted to grass. Cattle and horses formed the 
Icelander’s wealth, and few more dreadful calamities 
could come upon him than a scarcity of hay — hay- 
need, as it was called. In hay-harvest all the men, 
rich and poor, high and low, worked in the fields. 
Even the family feuds, which raged so fiercely at 
other seasons, were laid aside. 

The women worked at home, spinning and weav- 
ing, making garments, cooking, and doing the gen- 
eral work of the family. Though there were thralls 
and bondmen, as with the old Germans, there was 
no ignoble domestic service. The chiefs and their 
sons were good practical farmers, carpenters, and 
smiths. During the long winters they worked at 
home, making armor and weapons. They were 
also excellent navigators and fishermen, and, like 
most of their race, tremendous fighters. Nearly 
every family history narrated in the sagas is stained 
with blood. Though the people were simple, hard- 
working men and women, they were quarrelsome 
and revengeful. The energies they had brought 
from the old home found no vent in general wars 
and conquests, and were expended in petty strife, 
which often led to wide-spread slaughter in families 
and neighborhoods. These family feuds were the 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 


7 1 


curse of Iceland, and the best blood of the country 
was spilled in carrying them on. The women some- 
times kept alive the spirit of revenge in the breasts 
of their male relatives when it would otherwise 
have died a natural death. Whole families were 
besieged and burned in their dwellings, and when 
the opposing factions met in the field a terrible 
slaughter took place. We are told that one hun- 
dred and ten men fell in a fight between two rivals, 
and the thingfield, where a general truce was pro- 
claimed during the assembly, more than once ran 
with streams of blood. It was ages after Chris- 
tianity was adopted in the island before this fierce 
spirit was subdued ; but the whole tendency of the 
new religion was to tone down these violent na- 
tures, which had been nurtured by the faith of 
Odin to believe war and heroic deeds of arms their 
only means of gaining access to paradise. With 
the new religion came a fresh vent for their ener- 
gies in the love of knowledge, which suddenly sprang 
up among them, and their taste for writing' down 
the legends of their ancestors. In time the Ice- 
landers became a very learned people. 

In spite of their fighting propensities, old Iceland 
reared a noble race of men. Restless and ambi- 
tious when young, they generally returned to the 
mother country to take part in her wars and sail a 
few viking voyages. They always received marked 
attention from the Norwegian kings, and were 
looked upon as valuable allies. These young ad- 
venturers from Iceland helped to make innumer- 
able descents on the coasts of England, Scotland, 


72 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Ireland, France, and the shores of the Baltic. They 
received their education in sea-roving and fighting. 
The sea was their college, and piracy, being looked 
upon as a high-toned and honorable employment, 
we cannot judge them as harshly as if they had 
been reared according to our standards. 

.About the year 982 one Eirik the Red, an Ice- 
lander, was banished for three years from the island, 
and, sailing westward in his ship, he discovered 
Greenland. Afterward, a little company of people 
went out from Iceland and colonized Greenland. 
It is pathetic to know that they built a town, and 
had a church and a bishop, and managed to main- 
tain themselves in that fearful climate for nearly 
four centuries, and then vanished from off the face 
of the earth, no one knows how or whither. But it 
is still more interesting to us to learn that the son 
of this same Eirik the Red, with others of his kins- 
folk and friends, did actually discover the eastern 
coast of this continent of North America, which 
they explored as far south as Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, calling the country Vineland, because 
of the abundance of wild grapes growing along the 
shores. This wonderful story is preserved to us in 
an old Icelandic saga, but the discovery of the 
Icelanders was neglected and forgotten, and when 
Columbus came, near the end of the fifteenth cent- 
ury, the glory was as much his own as if the Norse- 
men had never sighted our shores. 

But let us now return to Iceland, and look at the 
old chief when he prepared to ride to the Althing 
with his troop of retainers and thingmen. The 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 


73 


Althing met on the great thingfield, called Thing- 
valla, each year, near the end of June, and was the 
national assembly, or congress, attended by all the 
people of the island. Not until sixty years after 
the first settlement of the island were steps taken 
to organize a commonwealth with a legal constitu- 
tion. Then a learned man, named Ulfljot, was sent 
to Norway to frame a code of laws, and his foster 
brother, named Grim Goatshoe, a celebrated walker, 
was appointed to walk around the whole island, to 
find a place for the meeting of the Althing. He 
chose a sunken lava plain, between two great vol- 
canic rifts or chasms, with a mountain towering 
above, and Thingvalla Lake lying at its foot. Here 
all the chiefs assembled near the end of June, and 
set up their booths and tents for the Althing, which 
lasted fourteen days. 

To this spot, after an absence of three years, 
Ulfljot came with his new code of laws, and it was 
adopted by the Althing about the year 930. This 
code was very oddly named Gragas, or Graygoose, 
from what cause we do not know. Books and writ- 
ing were then unknown, and the whole of the code 
was committed to memory, and recited annually at 
the Althing, by a person appointed for that pur- 
pose, called the Speaker of the Laws. The learned 
Ulfljot became the first law-speaker. This old Ice- 
landic code is considered one of the most remark- 
able ancient codes in the world. Considering the 
age when it was made, it shows great wisdom and 
foresight. The old Icelanders were much given to 
going to law. They were very subtle in the man- 


74 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

agement of their cases, and understood the art of 
quibbling to perfection. 

The assembly was opened with solemn sacrifices 
and feasts in honor of the gods. All the power lay 
in the hands of the great chiefs, who were also 
priests. They formed the high or supreme court 
at the Althing, and, when cases were to be tried, 
they could name the judges. Every one who ap- 
peared before the court as judge, witness, or com- 
plainant, was obliged to take an oath on a great 
silver ring, sprinkled with the blood of a victim, 
which the priest wore on his arm. The oath-taker 
called on Njord, Frey, and Almighty God (Thor) to 
witness that he spoke the truth. 

In about thirty years after the adoption of a con- 
stitution, the whole island was divided into prov- 
inces containing a certain number of priesthoods 
and of local things, where little courts, like our jus- 
tices’ courts, were held. There were in all thirty- 
six chief temples and priesthoods. In time, a high 
court of appeal was established, where doubtful 
cases could be reconsidered and tried over again. 

Old Graygoose had excellent laws concerning the 
poor. There was a depot of provisions for the 
needy in each parish, and no man was allowed to 
marry who could not maintain a family. Some of 
the punishments were severe. If a man kissed the 
wife of another, he was fined for every kiss three 
marks, or its equivalent, one hundred and forty-four 
ells of wadmal, a coarse kind of cloth, used for mon- 
ey in Iceland, as cattle were used in ancient Ger- 
many. But, unfortunately, these severe penalties 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND. 75 

do not betoken a purer state of life and manners 
than were found in other parts of the world. The 
old Icelandic woman, according to the sagas, was 
too often revengeful, intriguing, and slanderous, al- 
though there were noble exceptions. She stood 
almost on an equality with the men in regard to all 
rights of person and property. There are several 
instances given in the sagas where women were 
divorced because they would not endure a blow 
from their husbands. 

The Icelandic laws were much better than the old 
Norse code, from which they were mainly drawn. 
Few people have ever shown such a remarkable 
genius for law-making as the ancient Icelanders. 


76 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER VI. 

LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND — CONTINUED. 

W E can hardly understand how the old Ice- 
lander thought and felt, so different was he 
from ourselves. He belonged to the past, and the 
present can never put itself wholly in the place of 
the past. That ancient man’s ideas were shaped 
by his religion, which taught him that war was 
holy, that an appeal to arms was an appeal to the 
gods, who would uphold the just cause, and that a 
good fighter was not only a hero, but the beloved 
of Odin. 

When the ancient Icelander received an injury, 
there were three modes of redress open to him : he 
could punish his foe in his own way, he could take 
an atonement in money, or seek satisfaction at the 
hands of the law. The death-penalty was not in- 
flicted for what we call murder. The killing of an 
enemy was known as homicide. He who had done 
the deed threw a little earth or sand over the dead 
body, and then publicly told of what he had done. 
All that the Norseman did must be done in an 
open, frank, and manly way. He abhorred secret 
deeds of infamy, performed in the night, under 
cover of darkness. If he had fought with his foe 
and overcome him fairly, he wished the world to 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND — CONTINUED. 77 

know that Odin, the god of battles, who upheld the 
right cause, had been upon his side. The death- 
penalty was inflicted for witchcraft and magic, and 
the bodies of the guilty were burned or cast into 
the sea. Exile, and what was called exclusion, were 
the severest punishments meted out for other of- 
fenses. Exclusion confined a man to certain speci- 
fied places, and if he was found straying out of 
bounds his enemy might kill him with impunity. 

The Norsemen were a very plain-spoken people. 
They were much given to making satirical verses, or 
squibs, as we should call them, in which they in- 
dulged in a boastful spirit, while they held their 
foes up to ridicule. The Icelanders — an intelligent, 
quick-witted people — excelled in this bad art, and 
severe laws were passed to check the unscrupulous 
rhymesters. Their verses were wretched doggerel, 
without the slightest merit as poetry, but the per- 
sonal allusions with which they were filled stung 
like nettles. When a chief was going into battle he 
would often cast insulting verses into the teeth of 
his foe, to excite him to the highest pitch of frenzy. 
The singer of such verses was called a skald, which 
means a poet, but in the best sense he had no right 
to the name. 

The Norseman was roused to fury when called 
“ nithing,” a term which, as nearly as we can trans- 
late it, means infamous ; but in ancient times a 
weight of insult attached to it which we cannot now 
understand. When this dreadful word was hurled 
at him the sufferer could either fight or go to law, 
and it is to be presumed that he generally chose the 


78 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

former course. A nithing stake, composed of the 
forked branch of a hazel tree, was sometimes set up 
on an enemy’s land. The worst and most unpar- 
donable nithing-post was a stake crowned by a 
horse’s head. It is now impossible for us to com- 
prehend the power this insulting word exercised 
over the mind of a Norseman, who was peculiarly 
sensitive to every form of personal dishonor. The 
women shared fully in this trait, for we know that a 
wife would sometimes leave her husband because he 
had given her a slight blow on the cheek. 

There was a bad custom prevalent in Iceland 
which Christianity did its utmost to abolish. I 
mean the exposure of little children, who were 
sometimes carried out into woods and waste-places, 
and left to be devoured by wild beasts or to perish 
by cold and starvation. The father of a family had 
entire control over his children, either for life or 
death. When a baby was born in the house he was 
summoned to examine it, and to say whether it 
should live and be received as a member of the 
family, or should be cast out to perish by expos- 
ure. No one dared succor the child until the father 
had made his decision. It was laid on the bare 
ground, and then the father came to see if the baby 
was sound, strong, and healthy, without deformity or 
blemish of any kind ; possessed of good organs and 
senses and a vigorous pair of lungs. When he had 
settled these things to his satisfaction he either 
lifted the infant in his arms and gave it over to the 
women to be washed and dressed, and signed with 
the sign of Thor’s hammer, and sprinkled with pure 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND — CONTINUED. 79 

water, (for a kind of infant baptism was practiced 
even in pagan times,) or he scorned and rejected it, 
and the infant was cast out to perish. 

Horrible and inhuman as the custom seems to us, 
we must remember that it grew out of the severe 
climate and sterile soil of the North, where the dif- 
ficulty of rearing large families was very great. 
Moreover, the idea was deeply impressed on the 
heathen mind that the puny, sickly members of the 
family or tribe had no right to live. They were a 
clog and a burden to the able-bodied. The com- 
munity had need of strong, athletic men who could 
deal hard blows, and bear their share in winning 
bread. These ideas were uppermost while the nation 
was poor and struggling for existence, and then the 
terrible custom of exposing infants was established. 

Christianity came to teach the preciousness of 
every soul, the essential worth of every human 
being, whether sickly or strong, and the knowledge 
of a God who notes the fall of the little sparrow and 
counts every hair because of its value. It taught 
the moral holiness of pity, sympathy, and kindness, 
and gradually brought into being many new and 
humane feelings and instincts of which heathendom 
was wholly ignorant. 

But, before the introduction of Christianity, some 
of these gentler feelings were not entirely unknown 
in the North. During a severe winter in Iceland 
the people of Reykdal held a meeting at the house 
of the hofgodi Ljot, on the Thvera, and unani- 
mously agreed to make vows to the gods, in order 
to obtain a better state of weather. The hofgodi 


80 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

thought they ought to promise gifts to the temples, 
and to let the new-born infants be exposed, and kill 
off the old and feeble. But Askell, a pious chief- 
tain, raised objections to this sweeping proposal. 
It would be better, he said, for the people, in honor 
of the Creator, to promise to give property to sup- 
port the aged, and to bring up the children. His 
good counsel was followed. 

Let us believe that the mother’s tender instinct 
sometimes saved the doomed child, even as the 
mother of little Moses watched over him in his bul- 
rush cradle. Occasionally kind neighbors rescued 
the hapless baby from death, and it was brought 
up away from its kindred as a foster child. Perhaps 
the cruel custom of exposing children may have 
given rise to the system of fosterage so extensively 
practiced in the North. Parents sometimes sent 
their sons to be fostered in friend’s houses, and it 
was considered a great advantage for a youth to 
live with some great and noble chief, a man re- 
nowned for his wisdom and valor. The tie existing 
between the foster-child and its foster-parents and 
kinsfolk was very binding, and involved on both 
sides the most sacred obligations. 

One day, when King Harald Fairhair sat at table 
with a goodly company, a messenger came from 
Athelstane, king of England, bringing, as a present, 
a fine sword with a golden hilt. Harald took the 
sword, and had drawn it half way from the scab- 
bard, when the Englishman began to jeer. “ You 
are now,” said he, scornfully, “ the tributary or vas- 
sal of my king ; for you have accepted from him the 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND — CONTINUED. 8 1 

present of a sword.” It appears that, in those days, 
to accept a sword was to own one’s self the liege- 
man of the giver. We do not hear that King Har- 
ald then revenged himself on the English king, but 
the next year he sent a fine little boy of his, named 
Hakon, to England. The messenger brought the 
pretty lad into Athelstane’s palace, and set him 
down on the king’s knee without ceremony. “ Who 
is this?” cried the king, astonished at such boldness. 
“ This,” returned the messenger, “ is King Harald’s 
son, whom he gives you as your foster child.” The 
king was angry and drew out his sword, but the mes- 
senger said : “You can kill the little boy, if you will, 
but you cannot kill all the sons of King Harald.” 
Athelstane thought better of it. Perhaps the bright 
face of the child touched his heart. He put up his 
sword, and decided to rear little Hakon, and he was 
carefully educated and baptized into the Christian 
faith. In after years he went back to Norway, and 
ruled there under the name of Hakon the Good. 
He was the first Christian king of Norseland, though 
his subjects remained heathens. 

The Icelander was a simple, plain man in his 
habits. He ate, as a rule, but two meals a day: 
breakfast at about seven in the morning, and supper 
at seven or eight in the evening. He could turn 
his hand, as we say, to anything. He knew how to 
help himself on sea and shore, in the field and 
forest. He had no book learning, but he was skill- 
ful and accomplished from having learned all he 
knew directly from nature. So long as he lived in 
his father’s house he was subject to his rule. The 
6 


82 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

daughter was set free from her father’s control on 
her wedding-day. The bride among the ancient 
Germans, Tacitus tells, brought no portion, but 
among the Scandinavians marriage was, to a great 
extent, a matter of barter and sale. In those days 
dower was the price paid by the bridegroom for his 
bride, and portion was the sum paid by the father 
for getting his daughter settled in life. 

It seems strange to learn that the duel, which 
we justly regard with abhorrence, had a religious 
origin, and was considered a direct appeal to the 
justice of the gods. The holmgang, or duel, was 
practiced all over the North. It generally took 
place on an island, and the winner believed he had 
the favor of Odin, who presided in person at such 
contests. 

As I have told you, there was nothing the Norse- 
man resented like the smallest personal indignity. 
In Iceland a man might receive sentence of banish- 
ment for throwing dirt on another, or striking him 
with his fist. The people had an intense hatred of 
arbitrary power. Personal independence and dig- 
nity were prized far more than riches. Though 
credulous in their religious views, they were not 
abject. Manhood was held higher than all other 
things. The warrior who had done great deeds by 
his own prowess and courage was apt to be boastful 
and defiant, even toward the gods. Such a man 
could not be completely fettered by superstition, 
even in the old pagan days, and the spirit of doubt 
was often stirred within him. He believed his gods 
were bound to protect and help him if he worshiped 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND— CONTINUED. 83 

them with fervor and performed all his religious 
duties ; but if he thought his favorite divinities 
had treated him unkindly, no sentiment of fear or 
reverence could restrain him from expressing his 
dissatisfaction, and sometimes he even renounced 
their worship. 

We hear of one Hrafukill, who had been devoted 
to the worship of the god Frey, and who, when he 
learned that his enemies had killed a horse, named 
Freyfax, which he had hallowed to Frey, and had 
burned his temple, seeing that the god was too 
weak or indifferent to protect his worship, declared 
that it was folly to believe in the gods, and from 
that time onward offered no sacrifices. Those old 
warriors were very much inclined to believe in 
themselves and in their strong right arms. We 
shall see that their two principal gods were courage 
and strength. This made them boastful and ex- 
tremely self-confident. We hear of one who, in- 
flated with self-glory, cried out, “Where at present 
is he whom they call Odin, the warrior so com- 
pletely armed, who has but one eye to guide him ? 
Ah, if I could but see him ! This redoubtable 
spouse of Frigga in vain should be covered with 
his snow-white buckler, in vain mounted upon his 
lofty steed. He should not leave his abode of 
Lethra without a wound. It is lawful to encounter 
a warrior god.” 

We are told of a Danish prince, named Hother, 
who declared that he had resisted the united forces 
of Odin, Thor, and the JEsir. This reminds us of 
the Homeric heroes, who fought with the gods on 


84 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the plains of Troy, and sometimes wounded them. 
Perhaps the most remarkable thing in Norse mythol- 
ogy is the fact that it predicts its own destruction. 
The gods are not eternal. They are to reign but 
for a season, then will come the twilight of the 
gods, called Ragnarock, when heaven and earth 
shall pass away, to give place to a new and re- 
stored nature. These elements of decay, which the 
faith saw and recognized in itself, cast a melan- 
choly over the religious feelings of the North, and 
when Christianity came some enlightened minds 
saw in it the fulfillment of prophecy, and accepted 
the new religion with joy, while others clung stub- 
bornly to their belief in Thor and Odin. There was 
a long period of time when the North was neither 
pagan nor Christian, but something between the 
two. The decay of faith in the old gods went on 
very slowly in the minds and hearts of the people, 
though the change in the law of the land, abolish- 
ing paganism, may have been as abrupt as it was in 
Iceland when Christianity was adopted at the Al- 
thing in the year 1000. 

We shrink with horror from the thought of a 
violent death, but the Norseman courted it by 
every means in his power. This strange creed 
grew directly out of the fatalistic doctrine of Rag- 
narock, of which I spoke. The gods were looking 
forward to the great day of conflict — when they 
must fight and perish — when they would stand in 
need of the help of all good fighters. For this rea- 
son they welcomed joyfully to Valhalla those war- 
riors who had proved their claim to the heroic 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND — CONTINUED. 85 

character by dying with arms in their hands. The 
joys of Valhalla, pictured by the poets, inspired in 
the North a contempt of death. The love of war 
among the Norsemen shaped the doctrines of their 
religion from old materials existing for untold ages, 
and their religion reacted on the national character, 
and made it still more fierce, until the Norseman 
became a terror to Europe, and so remained long 
after Christianity was adopted. 

The ancient Icelander dreaded nothing so much 
as dying peaceably in his bed. An heroic death 
was so intensely coveted that sick warriors were 
sometimes carried to the battle-field to die by the 
stroke of a weapon. Suicide, for the same reason, 
became a mania, and a rock in Iceland, we are told 
by an old writer, was resorted to by the unfortun- 
ate, the sick, and unhappy, that they might end 
their days acceptably to the gods by throwing 
themselves from the top. Another rock, in Swe- 
den, was resorted to for the same purpose, and was 
called the Hall of Odin. Men sometimes, when 
about to die, put on a suit of armor that Odin 
might recognize them as of the number of his elect. 
This strange faith in the god of battle so exag- 
gerated courage that the Norsemen were ready to 
attack the whole world in the name of Odin. Their 
fighting propensities must find vent, and they glo- 
rified piracy, and harried many peaceful lands that 
had done them no harm. 

The Icelanders were of the best blood of the 
North. They were a noble, austere race of men, 
who defied cold, and darkness, and raging seas, and 


86 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


a sterile soil, and lived simply like the ancient Spar- 
tans. We must honor them for their love of inde- 
pendence, their genius for law, their good institu- 
tions, and their heroic toils. Their faults were the 
faults of the age, their virtues were their own. 
There was nothing mean or base in those sturdy 
warriors. They hated cowards and liars ; they were 
bound to help their friends and harm their enemies ; 
they despised truce-breakers, backbiters, and tale- 
bearers. They were plain and blunt in their speech, 
saying to a man’s face the worst they thought of 
him. They were hospitable even to their foes, 
open-handed and great-hearted, and some of their 
purely human virtues have a luster we cannot help 
admiring. 

I shall tell you in the next chapter something of 
the way in which Norway and Iceland were con- 
verted to Christianity. We know the very day 
when the Althing adopted the new faith, June 24 
of the year 1000. The blessings that followed from 
Christianity, though they flowed slowly, were of in- 
calculable value. The precepts of the meek and 
lowly Jesus could not at once tame those fierce 
natures, but gradually the change was wrought. 
Pity for the weak and helpless, reverence for human 
life, and courage applied to living wisely as well as 
dying bravely, came in the course of ages. One 
great advantage to Iceland and the world was the 
introduction of the Latin alphabet, and the knowl- 
edge of Roman writing, which the Christian priest 
brought with his mass-book and liturgy. In the 
course of a century the Icelanders began to man- 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND— CONTINUED. 87 

ifest that intense love of learning which has ever 
since distinguished them. 

Before the adoption of Christianity all their 
knowledge was oral. The mind and memory were 
the only libraries, the only books, they possessed. 
They were gifted with memories so admirable and 
surprising that even in heathen times they cannot 
be called wholly unlearned ; they were only unlet- 
tered. A great part of what was afterward written 
down already existed in those wonderfully retentive 
minds. During the eleventh century . there was 
both book teaching and oral teaching in the island. 
The old traditions, poems, and histories were taught 
by word of mouth, while the priests instructed the 
people from books. The Roman letters were at 
first used entirely by the priests, but finally they 
extended to the people. 

Seamund, a native priest of Iceland, who was 
born some time in the latter half of the eleventh 
century, went to Europe and studied in the col- 
leges of France and Germany. On his return he 
became the parish priest of a little village called 
Oddi, at the foot of Mount Hecla, and devoted 
himself with ardor to the literature of Iceland. It 
was Seamund who collected and wrote down the 
thirty-nine poems composing the elder, or poetical, 
Edda. Some writers wish us to believe that Sea- 
mund copied these poems from Runic manuscripts, 
but as we have no reason to suppose that Runic 
letters were ever used for such a purpose, it is 
probable that he gathered them from the lips of 
old people, who had learned them from their parents 


88 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

in their youth, and held them in the grasp of their 
tenacious memories. In this way they became 
grandmother s tales — tales of the ancestress of the 
Norse race. 

Nearly all we know of Norse mythology is based 
on the elder Edda. What we find in the sagas 
and family histories but confirms the authority of 
this work. Some of these poems are written in a 
sublime style, some of them are obscure and hard 
to interpret. Who composed them we do not 
know. They may have been, probably were, com- 
posed by a number of hands at different times. 
The great poet or poets who lived before the mid- 
dle of the ninth century of our era have sunk into 
complete oblivion, and now their work seems like 
one of the vast objects of nature — the sky, the 
mountains, or the sea. 

The younger or prose Edda, which is based on 
the elder Edda, and derives all its value and au- 
thority from the latter, was compiled by Snorro 
Sturleson, who was born of a fine old Icelandic 
family in 1178. He was the foster-child of John 
Loptson of Oddi, the grandson of the wise priest, 
Saemund, and he lived at Oddi until his twentieth 
year. He received a good education, and may 
have had access to the manuscripts and other liter- 
ary treasures left by Saemund. The prose Edda 
belongs to the thirteenth century, and is very skill- 
fully put together, so as to bring all the leading 
doctrines of the old faith into prominence. Snorro 
also wrote the Heimskringla, or Book of the Nor- 
wegian kings. In spite of his taste for literature, 


LIFE IN ANCIENT ICELAND — CONTINUED. 89 

and his great merit as a writer, his life was stormy 
and turbulent, and he was finally murdered by his 
sons-in-law and a stepson in 1241. 

In spite of the industry and zeal of Saemund and 
Snorri and the saga men of Iceland, what we now 
know of the ancient religion, laws, and customs of 
our Norse forefathers might have been lost to the 
world had it not been for the restorers of learning 
in Iceland, who discovered the Eddas hidden away in 
obscure corners of that frozen island, and gave them 
to the world in the 17th century. These discover- 
ies stimulated the researches of scholars interested 
in Northern antiquities, and a flood of light has 
since been thrown upon the dead and buried age 
of Norse heathendom. 

The old form of government continued in Ice- 
land until 1262, when it became a province of Nor- 
way. In 1387 it fell, with the mother country, into 
the power, of Denmark, and is still a possession of 
that kingdom. You will remember how, in 1874, 
the King of Denmark, Christian IX., visited Ice- 
land to celebrate the one thousandth anniversary 
of its settlement by Ingolf, the Norse exile, and to 
bestow a free constitution on the people of the 
island. 


90 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE TWO OLAFS, 


OU will, I take it for granted, be anxious to 



1 hear how Christianity was at last established 
in Norway and Iceland, and how those two great 
kings, Olaf Tryggveson and St. Olaf, partly by co- 
ercion and violence, and partly by persuasion, in- 
duced the people to adopt a change of faith, and 
forever abandon the heathen gods and all their 
works and ways. 

Though the best minds had long before begun 
to doubt the truth of the old religion, it was still 
dear to the common heart of the North, and the 
revolution which is narrated in a few pages of our 
history books, and which it took but one day at the 
Althing to effect legally in Iceland, was, in reality, 
the work of a long period of time. This change 
began at the top of the nation, in the brain and 
heart of a king, while the mass of the people still 
clung to the worship of Thor and Odin. 

That little boy of whom I told you in the last 
chapter, the youngest son of old King Fairhair, who 
was taken to England and placed upon the knee of 
King Athelstane, in time became a distinguished 
man, and was made King of Norway. He was 
called Hakon the Good, and was much beloved by 


THE TWO OLAFS. 


91 


his people. Hakon had received a Christian edu- 
cation in England, and he took priests and bishops 
out to his own country and tried to convert the 
Norsemen. But the time was not ripe. They re- 
fused utterly to give up their old gods, and at Yule- 
tide, which corresponded to our Christmas season, 
when there was great feasting among the heathen, 
and they indulged freely in horseflesh and mead, 
Hakon — though his soul abhorred all pagan rites — 
was sometimes forced to join in the festivities. 

The old faith flourished for some years longer in 
the far North, until Olaf Tryggveson arose, a man 
stronger than Hakon the Good. Among a brave 
people like the Norsemen, whose chief god was 
personified courage, a king, to be distinguished, 
must indeed be mighty and valiant. Olaf was such 
a hero. His is a great name, that towers up still 
like avast jokul in the Northern sky. In his youth 
Olaf was a famous viking and sea-robber. He 
helped King Sweyn, of Denmark, to plunder the 
shores of England and lay siege to London, which 
was even then an important town, attracting trade 
and commerce to the banks of the Thames. 

Olaf was the son of one Tryggve, grandson of 
Harald Fairhair, who was murdered by a wicked 
queen named Gunhild and her son. Gunhild was 
the widow of another of Fairhair’s children, and 
her wickedness is celebrated in many Northern le- 
gends. Poor little Olaf was not born until three 
months after his father’s death, and his unfortunate 
mother was driven, by the vengeance of Gunhild, 
from one foreign country to another. When Olaf 


92 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

grew up he heard of his claim to the throne of Nor- 
way, and took to sea-roving. He was as wild and 
reckless a viking as had ever harried the shores of 
poor, afflicted England, now quite under the heel 
of the oppressive Norseman. 

Once, while on a voyage along the Western coast, 
Olaf extended his journey to the Scilly Islands, and 
there met an aged Christian hermit, who had sought 
shelter in those solitudes for prayer and meditation. 
He talked long and earnestly with this old man, 
and his heart was touched by the truths of the new 
faith. He was persuaded to receive baptism at the 
hermit’s hands. Olaf became a zealous convert, 
but he still continued his viking life. The two pro- 
fessions of Christian and sea-robber did not seem 
to him incompatible. Some time after this he made 
a famous invasion of England with King Sweyn. 
They sailed up the Thames, with three hundred 
ships and a large number of fighting men. The 
appearance of that great fleet must have been very 
striking, for the ships were shaped like strange 
birds and dragons, gayly painted and gilded. Olaf’s 
ship, which is celebrated in history, was called the 
Long Serpent. 

This siege of London took place in the year 994. 
It was due to a vow Sweyn had once rashly made 
at a drinking bout, that he would conquer England. 
A Norseman considered a vow as sacred and bind- 
ing, even if made under the influence of mead or 
strong liquor. But Sweyn had to wait over twenty 
years before his vow was fulfilled. This time he 
was bought off by danegelt, money paid over and 


THE TWO OLAFS. 


93 


over again by poor England to free herself from the 
Danes. But by and by he did become King of 
England, and his son Knut, is, as you may know, 
famous in English history. 

Well, Olaf stayed some time in England, and the 
Bishop of Canterbury, named Elphegus, baptized 
him over again, probably feeling that the first bap 
tism had not worked quite as well as it ought to 
have done on that wild, fierce nature. He also 
gave him much sound religious instruction. Finally 
Olaf, who had some claim on the throne of Norway, 
procured some ships and sailed North. 

At that time Norway was ruled by a wicked and 
abominable man named Jarl (Earl) Hakon. If I am 
not mistaken, this same Jarl Hakon offered up his 
innocent little son, seven years of age, as a sacrifice 
to the gods, that he might obtain victory over some 
famous robbers called the Jomsburg pirates. When 
Jarl Hakon heard that Olaf had invaded the land, 
being a coward as well as a cruel tyrant, he hid 
himself in the cellar of a pig-sty, and was there 
murdered by a slave. Olaf was thenceforth master 
of Norway, and from the first moment of "his reign 
he set himself against the heathen gods. He was 
determined to Christianize the land, peaceably if he 
could, violently if he must. His methods were not 
in accordance with the spirit of the meek and lowly 
Jesus, but we must remember the character of the 
Norse people and the temper of a hero like Olaf, 
who was bred up to sea-roving and fighting. 

Jarl Hakon, his predecessor, had been a zealous 
idol-worshiper, and had built many temples and 


94 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 

adorned them with costly images. On one occa- 
sion a thing was held near one of Hakon’s temples 
which contained a large Thor, with a fine gold col- 
lar round his neck. The Bonders, as they were 
called, zealous heathen men, invited Olaf to step in 
and gaze upon this splendid image, and take part 
in the ceremonies. But, instead of complying, the 
stout king rushed into the temple and clove the 
god from head to foot with his battle-axe. He 
seized the gold collar and other offerings, and car- 
ried them away for his own benefit. 

We know that human sacrifices were occasionally 
offered in Norway as late as the tenth century. 
The king had a ready wit, and he seized on the fol- 
lowing device to get some of his principal men 
baptized. Before Yule-tide King Olaf gave a great 
banquet in his palace, and invited people far and 
near to the feast. When the banquet was over he 
called in his trusted men-at-arms, and ordered them 
to lay hold of eleven chiefs of dignity and high 
position. He said, by way of explanation to the 
astonished feasters, that, as his people wished him 
to again become a heathen man, and sacrifice to 
the gods, he did not intend to offer up malefactors, 
criminals, and slaves. He would do it in the high- 
est style, and offer his best men. The chosen vic- 
tims, finding themselves doomed to death unless 
they consented to be baptized, chose the latter al- 
ternative ; though, probably, the king would not 
have answered for their remaining good Christians. 

Olaf was a stout man, and of very obstinate tem- 
per. He had a tough problem to deal with in the 


THE TWO OLAFS. 


95 


rooted paganism of his fathers, and he adopted vio- 
lent measures, some of which were cruel and not to 
be lightly excused. In two or three years Olaf had 
put down Odin and Thor with a high hand. The 
old heathen element dared not stir against this 
powerful king. Then he bethought him of Iceland, 
and sent a German missionary to convert the peo- 
ple. His name was Thangbrand, and he bore the 
new faith in one hand and the sword in the other. 
All who refused baptism he challenged to a holm- 
gang or some other form of contest. Two skalds 
made some satirical verses on this doughty mission- 
ary, whereupon he drew his weapon and cut them 
down. The Icelanders appreciated his fighting qual- 
ities but they rejected the new faith, and Thang- 
brand went back crest-fallen to Norway. 

It was this same Thangbrand whom Olaf rebuked 
for his sea-robberies, after he himself had seen the 
wickedness of such a violent life. “ Thou goest 
about a-roving, like heathen vikings, and feedest 
thyself and others by plunder and robbery. Thou ! 
a priest, who oughtest to serve God alone. Know, 
therefore, that thou shalt lose my favor, and leave 
my realm.” 

Thangbrand went out to Christianize Iceland in 
997. In 999, one Hjallti, the son of Skeggi, was 
outlawed. He went to Norway with a priest named 
Gizur. They both adopted the new faith, and 
promised Olaf that they would go home and con- 
vert Iceland. They returned to Iceland in the year 
1000, and repaired directly to the Althing, which 
was then in session. The speaker of the law was 


9 6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

one Thorgier, of White Water, who, it is said, was 
bribed by a priest, named Thormond, to establish 
Christianity in Iceland by a decree of law. Thor- 
mond gave him sixty-five silver marks to advocate 
a change of faith before the assembly of the people. 
Another version of the story tells us that Thorgier 
was won over by Hall of the Side, who had been 
converted under Thangbrand. However it may 
have happened, Iceland was then legally proclaimed 
a Christian land. The conversion of the people to 
the new faith was helped forward by Thormond, a 
kind and gentle priest, whom Olaf had sent out to 
take the place of the fighting Thangbrand. Three 
things were strictly prohibited by the new religion : 
the exposure of children, the worship of idols, and 
the eating of horse-flesh. The latter prohibition 
was probably due to the fact that the horse was 
sacred to Frey, and horse-flesh always figured as a 
prominent dish at heathen festivals. 

In Norway the people were very unwilling to 
yield up their old gods at King Olaf s dictation. 
There was wide-spread discontent, but Olaf cared 
little for their grumbling. He continued to smash 
idols and baptize the people by force. The fine 
gold ring which, as you will remember, he had taken 
from the god Thor, he now sent as a present to 
Queen Sigrid, called the Proud, of Sweden, who 
was then a widow. This lady had already burned 
up two of her suitors to be rid of them ; but Olaf, 
who was a widower, undeterred by the fate of pre- 
vious suitors, thought of winning her for his wife. 
When she received the gold ring as a present from 


THE TWO OLAFS. 


97 


the king, she had it broken open by her goldsmith, 
and discovered that it was filled with copper. The 
queen was very angry with Olaf, and at first refused 
the match, but at last, her wrath being soothed, 
she consented to marry him. Olaf now decided 
that he would not take her unless she became a 
Christian. This the lady positively refused to do, 
whereupon the king spoke very contemptuously to 
Sigrid the Proud, and at last struck her in the face 
with his glove, an indignity she never forgave ; for 
it is probable that Queen Sigrid was the cause of 
the great king’s death. 

There were still obdurate, unsubdued heathen 
men in Norway, and one of the worst of these was 
called Jaerns-Kaegg or Ironbeard. He lived in the 
far North, and Olaf visited his thing and his temple, 
and, as usual, broke to pieces the idols. In the 
fight which ensued old Ironbeard was killed. Olaf, 
in order to compose matters, offered to marry Iron- 
beard’s daughter. The offer was accepted, but un- 
fortunately this young lady nourished the spirit of 
revenge, and was discovered on the wedding-night 
trying to murder her husband. King Olaf sent her 
home again quietly, and, being now a widower, he 
married the Princess Thyri, sister of King Sweyn 
of Denmark, afterward king of England. Thyri’s 
history had been very sad and unfortunate. Now 
Sweyn was married to Sigrid the Proud, renowned 
for burning her lovers, and the same queen who had 
been mortally affronted when King Olaf gave her a 
blow on the cheek. Sweyn, urged on by his wicked 
queen, attacked Olaf on a maritime expedition 
7 


98 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

which he had undertaken to recover some lands be- 
longing to his wife, and brought his splendid career 
to an end. After a desperate struggle, when he 
found he could not save himself by fighting, King 
Olaf sprang overboard and perished in the waves. 

Olaf was a man dear to the Norse heart for his 
courage and untiring energy. We may believe he 
was a sincere Christian, although, being a man of 
his time, he adopted rude methods for inculcating 
the new faith, and plowed and harrowed with the 
sword that the good seed might spring forth. 

Norway was only half converted when the great 
St. Olaf arose to put the finishing touches to the 
work. Between his reign and that of Olaf Tryggve- 
son two jarls (earls) intervened, who, though they 
had been baptized, were still pagans at heart. They 
did not meddle with the people’s gods. At this 
time some men while on land called upon the Chris- 
tian God, but when at sea they worshiped Thor. 
God and Jesus Christ were then included in the 
Norse system of mythology, instead of displacing 
Odin and Thor. 

The new Olaf who now arose and became the 
favorite saint of the North, and who even had 
churches named after him in England, was the son 
of Harald Graenske, one of the two luckless little 
kings who went courting wicked Queen Sigrid of 
Sweden, and was burned by her connivance in his 
lodging. Harald had a wife already, and it is im- 
possible to understand why he should stray away in 
pursuit of this bad queen. Olaf, the future saint, 
was born after his father’s death. At the age of 


THE TWO OLAFS. 


99 


twelve, the age when boys arrived at manhood in 
the North, he, like all the young gentlemen of his 
time, went sea-roving. This was his early prepara- 
tion for the saintly calling, and he became a famous 
fighter both on land and water. 

Olaf made it his first business to go to Sweden 
and avenge his father’s death. There 'are traces of 
his having fought much in England, on the side of 
the English against the Danes. We catch a glimpse 
of him at a famous siege of London, brought on by 
a miserable English king, called Ethelred the Un- 
ready, against the Danes, who had possession of the 
city. Olaf, it is rumored, destroyed the London 
bridge and captured the town. He seems to have 
remained a long time in England, until, finally, 
King Knut, the Dane, gained ascendency over the 
whole kingdom. Probably, while staying in En- 
gland, Olaf became a devout Christian. In time his 
thoughts were turned toward Norway, on whose 
throne he had some claim. So he sailed away to- 
ward home, while the ruler of that land, Jarl Eric, 
was on his way to England to assist King Knut. 
The kingdom was left in charge of a boy, young 
Hakon, and of his uncle, one Swen or Svein. Olaf 
did not meet with much resistance. He captured 
young Hakon, and, finding him a beautiful boy, 
gave him his life on condition that Hakon gave 
up all claim to the kingdom of Norway. To this 
Hakon consented. He then fought one victorious 
naval battle with the uncle, Swen or Svein, who 
fled, beaten and battered, into Sweden. Then all 
Norway received him as king. 




100 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Before Olaf became a saint he was called the 
Thickset, because he was rather short and stout. 
He was a handsome man, with beautiful, flowing 
yellow hair, a clear red and white complexion, and 
bright eyes which flashed splendidly when he was 
angry. Olaf, having had a surfeit of sea-roving, 
and having seen the folly and wickedness of it, like 
Olaf Tryggveson, passed stringent laws against the 
practice. He now set himself to exterminate hea- 
thenism, root and branch, with a firm will and an 
unsparing hand. Odin and Thor were still power- 
ful away up in the North, and Olaf visited that part 
of his kingdom with the determination of setting up 
a Christian thing, or of burning the villages. He 
was resisted by a sturdy heathen peasant, named 
Gudbrand, who, after much disputing and wrang- 
ling, ordered the great idol, Thor, one of extraor- 
dinary size and splendor, to be brought from the 
temple, so that the angry eye of the god might 
strike terror to the heart of King Olaf. The king 
had taken a bishop along with him, arrayed in his 
robes, and with the bishop’s crosier and crook in 
hand, ready to preach, and to baptize the people. 

Before the idol was brought out the king ordered 
one of his retainers, who was a gigantic man, to 
bore holes in the heathen’s ships, and untie their 
horses, and turn them loose. When the morning 
came the people assembled on the thingfield in 
great numbers. Just before sunrise the big idol 
Thor, covered with gold and silver, was brought 
out. This image received four bread cakes and an 
allowance of meat daily. Olaf directed his man, 


THE TWO OLAFS. IOI 

Kolbein, to deal the idol a stout blow at the mo- 
ment when the eyes of the people were turned away 
from it. The king then stood up and made a speech. 
He denounced the idol as a senseless, blind, and 
deaf creature, that could not move of its own will. 
“Turn your eyes to the East,” he cried, “and be- 
hold our God advancing in the light ! ” At that 
moment the sun rose in full splendor, and while the 
people were gazing upon it, Kolbein gave the image 
a tremendous blow. It burst asunder, and there 
ran out immense mice, reptiles, and adders. The 
heathen men were terrified, and took to their heels, 
but when they were about to embark on their ships 
they found them ready to sink. Those who wished 
to fly on their horses found they had stampeded. 
The men now returned to the thingfield, and Olaf 
made a speech, in which he exposed the folly of 
trusting in a poor, old, senseless idol, the abode of 
vermin and reptiles, which devoured the food that 
was daily placed there for the god. He bade them 
take the gold ornaments home to their wives and 
daughters, and then offered them the alternative of 
fighting with him or of embracing Christianity. 
The stubborn old heathen, Gudbrand, then stood 
up and declared that as Thor had not been able to 
help them, they would become Christians. Then 
and there, on the thingfield, the people were bap- 
tized by the bishop. Old Gudbrand, we are told, 
became quite a saintly personage, and in after days 
built a church in the valley. 

Olaf avoided violence where he could. He used 
persuasion and some artifice with his people, and 


102 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

this time the work was well done. In the course 
of two centuries Norway became a devout and even 
zealous upholder of the faith, and so remained un- 
til Luther’s Reformation in the fifteenth century 
broke the power of Rome there, and in many other 
parts of the North. But though the Norsemen 
were avowedly Christian, the impulses of the old 
faith were still at work in the Norse blood. They 
continued to create those sudden and violent revolu- 
tions in European affairs which made them the 
terror of many nations. The French priests intro- 
duced a prayer into their liturgy, beseeching God 
to deliver them from the Norsemen. Their name 
was every-where the dread of women and children. 
Though the means they used were not to be ex- 
cused, the ends wrought out by their invasions 
generally worked for good. Though restless and 
turbulent at home, they made excellent rulers 
abroad. Every-where they infused fresh energy 
into foreign states, and awakened the love of civil 
liberty and of good laws. 

I will continue the story of St. Olaf by telling 
you that Knut, or Canute the Great, who became 
king of England and Denmark, also laid claim to 
the throne of Norway. Olaf was a just, impartial 
king, but very severe in administering the law and 
punishing offenders. It was remarked that he dealt 
out justice to rich and poor, high and low, with an 
equal hand. This did not please the chiefs and 
great men, who wished to secure privileges and ex- 
emptions for themselves. There was much grum- 
bling and discontent in Norway, and Knut, by judi- 


THE TWO OLAFS. 


103 


ciously paying out gold, bought many adherents. 
After a year or two of struggle on the part of Olaf, 
Knut sent a great fleet to the coast of Norway, and 
the king had no adequate force by land or sea to 
check his advance. The disaffected people went 
over to Knut’s side, and in the end King Olaf was 
driven out of Norway. Knut appointed his nephew 
Hakon Jarl of Norway. He was the same beauti- 
ful boy, now grown to manhood, who had resigned 
the kingdom into Olaf’s hands, and promised to 
abandon all claim to the throne. 

Olaf, after making such resistance as he could 
along the coast with twelve small ships, finally fled 
away to the North, and, deserted and forlorn, 
crossed the wild, rugged mountains into Sweden. 
His brother-in-law was king of that country, and he 
received him well ; but Olaf pushed on with a 
bright little boy of his, named Magnus, to the court 
of Russia, leaving his wife and daughter in Sweden. 
He remained there perhaps two or three years, un- 
til he heard that young Jarl Hakon had been lost 
at sea, and that Norway was practically without a 
head. Then he gathered a force of men about him 
and marched back into Norway through the mount- 
ain passes. A battle was brought on, at a place 
called Sticklestad, with a much superior force of his 
rebel subjects. A total eclipse of the sun is said to 
have occurred that day, and such an event did take 
place on July 29, 1030, and perhaps fixes the date 
of the battle. King Olaf’s Swedish reinforcements 
failed to come up in time to help him much, and 
he was overcome and fell fighting bravely. 


104 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

You will be anxious to know how Olaf, who was 
driven out by his own people, and finally killed by 
them when he attempted to return, became the 
holiest and most famous saint of the North. It is 
said that in the evening after the battle the king’s 
body was secretly carried to a small hut, and that a 
blind beggar, coming into the place, was miracu- 
lously restored to sight. Tradition further tells us 
that his body was buried in a sand-bank at Stickla- 
stad, and, on being taken up at the end of a year, 
was found unchanged, with the hair and nails grown. 
Grimkill, Olaf’s court bishop, declared him a holy 
person, and the people began to worship him as a 
saint. His son, Magnus, who became a great king, 
and was called Magnus the Good, laid him in a 
costly shrine, by the high altar in the Church of St. 
Clement at Drontheim, where it was thought to 
have worked numerous miracles. Churches were 
built to him in many countries, even in Constanti- 
nople, and in a half century or less from the time 
his people had repelled and killed him, he became 
one of the holiest personages in the world. The 
popular traditions of the North abound in stories 
of St. Olaf, who, as we shall see, inherited all the 
attributes and qualities of the heathen god Thor. 
In London, where he is known under the name of 
St. Olave, four churches were erected to his honor, 
and two, it is said, are still standing. To the Cath- 
olic Church his bones were a source of great profit ; 
but the Protestant North still honors him because 
he was a brave, true man, and suffered much for 
righteousness’ sake. 


THE iESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. 


105 


CHAPTER VIII. 

A GLANCE AT THE ^ESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. 

T HE Northern people, in the course of ages, 
made for themselves a god of courage, and 
called him Odin.* I do not mean that they delib- 
erately set to work to manufacture this god, but 
that the ideas which clustered around him grew 
unconsciously as the national character was formed. 
They also made another dearly-loved and cherished 
god — strength and endurance — and gave him the 
name of Thor. These two ideas lie at the base of 
the Norse character. You will now perceive that I 
have told you something of the Norseman to enable 
you to judge intelligently of his gods. His gods 
grew out of his mode of looking at the outer 
world, and expressing his own nature. His nature 
was shaped and fashioned by the outer world and 
by the influence of the gods he had made for 
himself. 

But, you may ask, if you are thoughtful, and have 
given some attention to mythology, was Odin, the 
war god, the first form of that great and powerful 
deity, or was he only some other transformed divin- 
ity who had his birth in nature ? Odin was, I believe, 

* Of the so-called historical Odin I shall speak at length in an- 
other place. 


Io6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

in the beginning, before the Norse and Teutonic 
races emigrated to Europe, a nature-god, the sky 
typified. He always retained traces of his origin 
in that idea of the skyfather ; for he is represented 
as an old, one-eyed man, wrapped in a cloudy blue 
cloak. What could better represent the expanse of 
azure, lit up by Odin’s eye, the sun ? 

Thor, as you may know, is the thunder-god. The 
strokes of his great hammer are the reverberations 
of the electric clouds as they rush together in the 
sky. He became the Northern Herakles, who con- 
stantly labored and endured for the good of heaven 
and earth. Warm showers, attended by thunder 
and lightning, melt the ice and snow on the great 
Northern mountains, and send gurgling brooks and 
rushing rivers down to water the grassy plains. 
Thor is the son and the helper of Odin, the sky- 
god, with his great burning eye set in the firma- 
ment. 

Odin, as we shall see, married Earth, and their 
children ruled over the different provinces of nature. 
Many nations have had these simple elementary 
gods of sky and earth. The Hindus, Egyptians, 
and Greeks possessed them, and they all seem to 
point to a common origin and birth-place in the far 
East. But it is unsafe to speak positively on this 
point, or to try and fit every myth to a cut-and- 
dried theory. I believe we may safely assert that 
every one of the Norse myths had its roots in a 
nature-god, made by the imagination and the spirit 
of fear and worship in man out of the appearances 
and forces of the outer world. I shall point out 


THE ;ESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. 107 

these primitive ideas about the gods as far as I 
can. The reason they are so hard to trace is 
because of the great changes which took place in 
the life of the people when they came to occupy 
a new country, under different conditions of cli- 
mate and soil, sun and wind ; and when they found 
new impulses springing up within them. Then 
the sluggish, sleepy gods, whom they had brought 
from an earlier, perhaps a more genial, home, were 
gradually changed to meet the requirements of the 
new situation. 

Nearly all the remains of the heathen gods left to 
us in England and Germany are in the form of folk- 
lore, nursery tales, old wives’ stories, and popular 
superstitions and traditions. Of these I shall speak 
in good time. Some of them are so disguised by 
having been filtered, so to speak, through Chris- 
tianity that it is hard to detect their original form. 
But even in such a popular tale as Jack the Giant- 
Killer, if you look closely, you may detect traces of 
an old heathen myth. 

When the Norsemen first settled in that cold, 
rugged, but gloriously beautiful, land of Norway we 
do not know. Noble myths seldom spring up in 
countries which are not fitted to stir the imagina- 
tion. Norway, a land of mountains and torrents, 
and deeply penetrated by the sea through its nu- 
merous inlets and fjords, was a kind of northern 
Greece. It stimulated the slumbering poetry of the 
nation, and produced a noble race of bards, who 
composed the lays of the elder Edda, and who must 
rank with the great poets of the world, although 


108 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

their very names have perished. Myths grow not 
alone from ideas about the outer world ; they also 
reflect the life and soul of man. The one idea that 
governed Northern life for many ages was resist- 
ance. Man must brace himself to contend with 
cold and frost, a sterile soil, hunger, fatigue, wild 
beasts, and long winters. He fought the elements 
in clearing and partially subduing the earth, and 
his fighting propensities grew to excess. Courage 
having been exalted to the highest place among the 
virtues, he transformed the sky-father, and made 
him the god of battles, but he still remained a 
nature-god, and the attributes of universal mind 
and spirit were added. 

A belief in the immortality of the soul was always 
cherished among the Northern nations. It was 
necessary to provide a heaven for the warrior which 
should furnish future rewards for his valor. Thus 
came into being Valhalla, the fighters’ heaven. 
As Odin was supposed to have an especial tender- 
ness for the heroes he doomed to death in battle, 
the fallen were considered peculiarly fortunate. 
They were chosen by beautiful goddesses called 
Valkyrjur, sent out by Odin to perform this duty. 
The doctrine of Odin and Valhalla was, I think, 
the central doctrine of the old faith. There were 
other doctrines more profound and spiritual and 
beautiful, but none that the people, whether intel- 
ligent or thoughtless, could so easily comprehend. 
Every Norseman knew it was his duty to be brave. 
His creed was short and simple; and, even when 
in later times he became a pirate and marauder on 


THE iESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. IO9 

the coasts of Europe, the fact that his religion had 
once lent a moral sanction to warfare saved him 
from becoming as bad as he might have been, 
and gave him a wild, fierce grandeur that few other 
races have possessed. 

Now, owing to that strange doctrine which fore- 
doomed the gods themselves to destruction, the 
heroes of Valhalla were not to lead a mere idle 
life of luxury and ease with Odin. They were to 
practice and perfect themselves in valor against 
that terrible day of doom, the twilight of the 
gods ; for, although Odin well knew he must 
perish in time, he proposed to make the best 
possible defense, and die like a hero-god. This 
trait of Northern mythology is full of pathos, and 
seems to stand alone among the religions of the 
world. 

Every religion has its external and its internal 
sense, its outer court of the temple and its inner 
shrine. Those who worship from the outside, and 
think only of the symbol, may be degraded, low, 
and unspiritual, while the inner meaning of their 
faith is full of beauty. I think we can see plainly 
that this was the condition of the Norse religion at 
the moment Christianity came to humanize and 
tame the nation. Its degradation is symbolized 
by the great ugly idol smashed by St. Olaf, out of 
which ran vipers and vermin. The spiritual mean- 
ing of the myths had probably faded from nearly all 
minds, and might have been utterly lost to the 
world had it not been for those wise and industri- 
ous Icelanders who wrote down and preserved the 


IIO TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

great poems of an unknown age.* The ancient 
religion was fast degenerating into a blind, besotted 
idolatry of stocks and stones, and Olaf Tryggveson 
and St. Olaf saw that they must root it out if they 
would save the people from every violent and 
wicked propensity. 

We have only to study the elder Edda to see that 
inspired seers and bards did once live among those 
people, who felt for God, “ if haply they might find 
him,” and worshiped the Unseen in spirit and in 
truth. It is in the power of poets to both exalt 
and degrade religious myths. The Greek poets did 
both in their time. The best Norse poets were in- 
tense and solemn, deeply imbued with the mys- 
tery and grandeur of the universe. Nature, rugged 
and sublime, often dark, frowning, and danger- 
ous, colored and shaped their dreams. They have 
given the world great works and sublime doc- 
trines, which doubtless they mused upon in the 
shadow of the mountains or by the tumultuous 
Northern sea. In reading their lays we feel that, 
few who have come after are greater than these 
nameless ones who questioned so profoundly about 
life and death and immortality and the fate of gods 
and men. 

I have called the doctrine of Odin as war-god, 
with Valhalla the warrior’s heaven, and the Val- 
kyrjurs or corse-choosers, the central doctrine of 


* The Prose Edda was written by a man who mixed classical 
learning and Christian ideas with Northern traditions. This is 
clearly seen in the preface to Max Muller’s “ Chips from a German 
Workshop,” vol. ii, p. 195.— Ed. 


THE .ESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. Ill 

Norse religion, because it was all-powerful in form- 
ing the Northern character, and left its deep impress 
on after-times, when the myths themselves had 
vanished from every part of the world except that 
cold corner, Iceland. The conflict of good and evil 
deities is another point to which I would call your 
attention. Some writers have supposed that this 
doctrine was drawn from the old Persian religion, 
which embraces an endless conflict between two gods 
almost equal in power, the one good, the other wholly 
evil. But the Scandinavian idea is far more simple 
than the high-wrought philosophical scheme of the 
Persians. As Odin was, in the beginning, merely 
the sky-god, a being with a wide blue mantle and 
one great, glowing eye — the sun — so Loki was only 
the god of fire, a wild, incalculable, tricksy nature- 
god. Among the Greeks this deity was represented 
as a useful being, Hephsestos, the smith and metal- 
worker, who, confined to his work-shop in the bow- 
els of the earth, made the armor of the gods and 
many beautiful works. In some sense he was the 
father of the arts in Greece ; but in Norway he as- 
sumed a far more important character, because in a 
cold country fire is one of the chief means of sus- 
taining life. 

In the first place a fire-god, and no devil at all, 
because of the destructive propensities of his nature 
Loki gradually took on evil attributes. When men 
began to reflect upon all that disorganizes, ruins, 
and embitters life, it was natural for them to make 
a god of evil. The Norsemen did not create a new 
god for the purpose, but took the familiar old de- 


1 12 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

mon of fire and remodeled him. Now it is plain 
to us that, in the first place, Loki was not wholly 
evil in intent, because he originally appears as the 
brother of Odin, and takes part in the creation of 
man. For a long time he was allowed to live with 
the ^Esir, and freely made his way in and out of 
heaven. The gods could scarcely do without him, 
because he was so witty, so full of resources and 
expedients. He involved them in endless difficul- 
ties, but he was just as ready to extricate them by 
his wonderful cleverness. At last, however, he made 
himself intolerable by slaying Baldur, the beloved 
god of summer, and was chained down in a place of 
torment until the last day. The gods endured him 
because fire was necessary to their comfort in a cold 
climate, but he was always a danger and a menace, 
just as we say of fire that it is an excellent servant 
but a fearful master. 

I am acquainted with no other god of mythology 
who exactly corresponds to the wicked, grotesque, 
and clever Loki. It is possible that he was bor- 
rowed by the Norsemen from the aboriginal inhab- 
itants of the North, and was, in his primitive ele- 
ments, a god of the soil. As a gentle heat diffused 
through the sky Loki is good and beneficent, and 
is called the brother of Odin ; but when he goes 
down into the depths of the earth and becomes the 
elemental fire, his nature changes to evil, and he 
brings forth children who are even worse than him- 
self. They are the destructive powers of nature, 
which cannot always be kept chained, although for 
a time the gods who represent the principle of life 


THE jESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. J 1 3 

are able to curb them. But Loki’s children finally 
break loose and bring about Ragnarock, the twi- 
light of the gods. 

This group of destructive beings, Loki and his 
progeny, the powers of evil as we call them, is op- 
posed to Odin and his children, the organic and 
living powers. We find just such an opposition in 
Grecian mythology, although there the evil powers 
are of darkness, the good powers of light, typified 
by the change from day to night. Odin Allfather, 
as he was fondly called, has a circle of twelve sub- 
ordinate gods, or yEsir, most of them his children, 
who help him in the government of the universe. 
It is to be noted that Zeus (Jupiter) also had a court 
of twelve gods, which he held on Olympus. An- 
other striking point of resemblance between the 
Greek and the Norse systems is the fact that in 
both, previous to the reign of the gods, the earth 
was possessed by giants. Zeus subdued these mon- 
strous beings at great cost and labor. In Greece 
they were the chaotic principle represented by wild, 
fierce storm and tempests. In the Northern land 
they took the form of icebergs and snow-mountains, 
and that visible death of nature which prevents 
growth, and puts a quietus on all movement and 
energy in the ground. The gods, being life and 
motion, which germinates in seeds, sparkles in 
water, is seen and felt in sunshine, in rain, and 
thunder, and in all active things, hated those slug- 
gish, inert frost-giants, who, by all means in their 
power, were ever striving to encroach on the do- 
main of life. 

8 


1 14 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

The frost-giants were negatively bad — not act- 
ively evil like the busy Loki. The gods tolerated 
and sometimes visited them. Indeed, marriages 
took place between them, as we shall see. But the 
gods dreaded the power of the giants, and, though 
a truce was sometimes proclaimed between them, 
the war was eternal. The giants were an intermedi- 
ate form of evil that would not destroy, but would 
seal up all life and fix it in a state of eternal repose. 
For this reason they must be perpetually struggled 
with and driven back. Thor, the thunder-god, was 
their great enemy, because the impetuous summer- 
showers, accompanied by thunder and lightning, 
did more than all else to destroy them. 

The frost-giants were naturally great builders. 
We are all well acquainted with the beautiful archi- 
tecture of frost and snow. But though they built 
so well, their building meant death. One of their 
giants got into heaven with the hope of walling it 
up, and undertook to build a fine castle for the 
gods, and was only thwarted by the ingenuity of 
Loki. 

The Norsemen had a scheme of creation sublime 
and profound, although they claimed that all things, 
even the gods, were made from matter. They rep- 
resented the whole universe as bound together by 
the great ash-tree, Yggdrasill, whose roots extended 
over or shadowed three worlds. Nothing was ever 
imagined more beautiful than this grand tree, eter- 
nally growing and eternally decaying, and which 
binds by its roots, its trunk and boughs, the whole 
creation into one. They separated the universe 


THE iESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. 115 

into three large divisions, or states, which we may 
simply name God’s world, or heaven ; man’s world, 
or the earth ; and Hel’s world, or the lower regions. 
Hel was the goddess of death, whose name was 
finally given to the whole region over which she 
ruled. In old Norse mythology it was not neces- 
sarily the abode of the evil. There was a still lower 
deep for the hopelessly depraved. Hel’s domain 
consisted of nine worlds, or circles, and, like the 
Greek hades, was a shadowy, chilly, unpleasant 
place, where all souls went who did not die in arms 
and were thus entitled to enter Valhalla. The 
beautiful summer-and-light god, Baldur, who cor- 
responds to the Greek Apollo, went to Hel’s house, 
though his soul was of spotless innocence. Al- 
though Odin’s chief heaven was Valhalla, the abode 
of slain warriors and of the Valkyrjur, corse-choos- 
ers, there were, as we shall see, various other heav- 
enly abodes and many fine mansions where the 
gods and goddesses lived in great splendor. 

One chief peculiarity of the Norse faith was that 
both Odin’s Valhalla and Hel’s regions were not to 
endure. They were to pass away wfith the earth, 
to give place to a renewed creation. There is a 
hint in the Edda of a higher heaven, a heaven of 
heavens, called Gimli, immutable and eternal, where 
the blest were finally to live. There are also pas- 
sages in the Edda, somewhat obscure, which seem 
to refer to an eternal, unchangeable god, above 
Odin, living from everlasting to everlasting. Some 
writers have claimed that these passages refer to a 
doctrine of the one eternal God, held in all its purity 


Il6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

by the Norse sages. The passages are too obscure 
to enable any one to base an elaborate theory upon, 
but there are traces of a doctrine in the Eddas 
which resembles the doctrine of the Trinity. Wheth- 
er these traces are the remnants of an older faith, 
or whether they crept in at the time when the Ed- 
das were first transcribed in Iceland by Christian 
priests, it is now impossible to say.* If they did 
exist in the primitive Norse myths, there is no 
proof that they were ever taught to the people, 
who believed in and universally worshiped Odin 
and Thor and Frey and Bragi and the other JEsir. 

These higher doctrines may have been held by a 
few priests and thinkers. There are traces in the 
Eddas of deeply reflecting minds, but who they 
were we do not know. I shall point out to you as 
we go on the resemblances between the Norse gods 
and the Greek and other divinities. Frigga, the 
Norse goddess of love, was the Northern Aphrodite 
or Venus. Her brother, Frey, was a god of the 
earth, who made it fruitful. The principal seat of 
Frey’s worship was in Sweden. Frigga, the wife 
of Odin, was the Earth, who married him when he 
was simply a sky-god. She resembles the Greek 


* The Eddas, doubtless, contain remnants of original revelation 
preserved in mutilated form. The old poems “were composed in 
Norway in the sixth centuiy after Christ ; they were carried to Ice- 
land in the ninth, and written down in the eleventh century. The 
prose portions of the old Edda, and still more of the young Edda, 
may be of later origin. They betray, in many instances, the hand 
of a Christian writer. And the same applies to the later sagas and 
law-books.” — Max Muller’s “ Chips from a German Workshop,” vol. 
ii, pp. 193, 194.— Ed. 


THE jESIR, AND THE ASA FAITH. 117 

Demeter, (Ceres.) Njord is one of the vans, gods 
of the air and water, who somewhat recalls the 
Neptune of the Greeks. The opposition of light 
and darkness, summer and winter, plays an import- 
ant part in these Northern myths ; but those who 
would trace every myth and every folk-story back 
to the sun are, I believe, straining a theory more 
than it will bear. 


1 1 8 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER IX. 

HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE FROM THE GIANT 
YMIR’S BODY. 

S soon as man begins to think he asks himself, 



“ How did the universe come into existence? 
Who made it, and of what material was it formed ?” 
All the mythologies have tried to answer these 
questions by a cosmogony, or theory, of creation. 
In none of them do we find more wonderful, and 
perhaps more profound, answers than are contained 
in the Eddas. 

We must remember that all the science, history, 
and poetry, as well as the religious doctrines which 
the nations had in their infancy, were contained in 
myths. Every thing was taught in the form of a 
story, and the people listened — pleased and de- 
lighted — to the tale of the universe. 

Let us note well the striking points in the Norse 
answer to the question of how the world was made, 
and chiefly the fact that they do not attempt to 
explain the creation of matter, which was in being 
before the birth of the gods, who were made from 
material already existing. There was a state be- 
fore the gods came to life. There will be a state 
after they are dead. With these states the old 
sages deal but vaguely. Another striking point is 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. II9 

the fact that the crude matter of which the universe 
was formed was first organized in the shape of a 
monstrous giant. To what the old Greeks called 
chaos, and what we call space, the Norsemen gave the 
long name of Ginnunga-gap, the abyss of abysses, the 
container of crude, unshaped matter. Before the 
creation of the sky, or suns, or stars, they imagined 
a division of space. The coarse matter was sep- 
arated from the finer and lighter kind, and gathered 
into a place by itself in a loose, unshaped condition, 
full of mists and whirlwinds. This sphere is called 
Niflheim. It lay at the North, and in the middle 
of it was placed the well Hvergelmir, from which 
flowed twelve rivers. This was the under or lower 
region, for to the ancients the North was -down, or 
below. 

South of the cold and frozen sphere lay a hot, 
bright, and radiant world called Muspelheim. All 
the light and luminous particles of matter were 
gathered in this place. It was ruled over by Sur- 
tur, a god with a flaming sword, who had under 
his command the light elves, busy little creative 
spirits. In this system heat and cold were the 
active and passive agents by means of which the 
universe was born. The hot sphere, which was 
up or above, in relation to Niflheim, acted on the 
latter, and caused poisonous cold streams to flow, 
called Elivagar. These streams froze into ice, and 
piled themselves up into layers in Ginnunga-gap, 
the abyss of abysses. Now while the north part 
of Ginnunga-gap, or space, was heaped with ice, 
from the South came heat and sparks of fire, and 


120 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the whole of that region glittered and glowed like 
the purest air. The two spheres, at work upon 
each other, were about to create a third, unlike 
either. The Edda tells us that the heat met the 
ice, which melted and dripped. Then the drops, 
through the power of him who sent forth the heat, 
received life, and a vast human form was produced, 
called Ymir. 

I want you to note this well, as it is taken from 
one of the most important passages in the Eddas. 
“ The power of him who sent forth the heat ” seems 
to indicate the existence of a spirit before the birth 
of the gods, by and through whom they were made. 
On these words mainly rests the belief that the 
Norsemen had some vague knowledge of an eter- 
nal, creative power expressed in that sublime pas- 
sage of the Bible, where we are told “ the Spirit of 
God moved upon the face of the waters.” 

The Norsemen first thought of the universe em- 
bracing all we see or know in earth and heaven 
under the form of a monstrous, misshapen man, 
called Ymir. He was nothing but matter, which, 
obedient to some law, had gradually spread in the 
darkness, and given birth to the lowest form of life. 
He was the father of the frost-giants, called Hrim- 
thursar, huge icebergs and snow mountains. He lay 
somewhere between the hot and cold spheres, and 
divided the upper from the lower world. The frost- 
giants called him O’rgelmir, meaning a vast, form- 
less mass of matter. He was the rough material 
gathered together in one place, from which the 
gods would finally make the universe. Ymir is 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. 


1 2 1 


called evil, because he was born of the negative 
principles, cold and darkness. 

As yet there was neither sand nor sea, nor cool 
waves, neither earth, nor grass, nor vaulted heaven. 
I will quote this passage from the Voluspa, one of 
the poems of the elder Edda : 

’Twas Time’s first dawn, 

When nought yet was, 

Nor sand nor sea, 

Nor cooling wave ; 

Earth was not there, 

Nor heaven above, 

Nought save a void 
And yawning gulf ; 

But verdure none. 

At the same time that Ymir was formed from the 
drops flowing from the ice, the celestial cow, Aud- 
humla, was made. Her name means darkness, and 
she symbolizes the upper sphere, in which no stars 
had yet begun to twinkle — before the creation of 
the sky or of light. From her teats, wonderful to 
relate, ran four nourishing streams, upon which the 
giant Ymir fed. These streams, we may conjecture, 
were the powers and forces of nature, possibly light, 
air, water, and fire, the four elements of the an- 
cients. 

The universe-giant, thus fed, fell into a deep 
sleep, and began to sweat, and from the pit of his 
left arm was born a man and a woman. One of his 
feet produced, with the other, a son, from whom 
the frost-giants were descended. Ymir is called the 
old frost-giant, or the grandfather of the Hrimthur- 
sar. This account will perhaps remind you of the 


122 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

way we are told God cast Adam into a deep sleep 
when he made Eve. The deep sleep typifies the 
mystery of creation, which the wisest man of our 
time is no more able to solve than the poor, igno- 
rant myth-maker of past ages. 

At this time, before heaven and earth existed, 
Allfather Odin lived among the frost-giants. These 
Hrimthursar, as we know, sprang from the lower 
sphere of matter. Far more wonderful was the 
birth of the gods. The cow, Audhumla, symboliz- 
ing the upper sphere, began to lick some stones, 
covered with salt and hoarfrost, for nourishment. 
In other words, the powers of growth began to act 
on matter. The first day that she licked the stones 
there sprang from them, toward evening, the hair 
of a man, the second day a head, and on the third 
day an entire man. This myth indicates the dif- 
ferent stages of development in creation. Life be- 
gan with the plant which, in Norse mythology, is 
more than once typified under the form of hair ; 
then a head appeared, probably the lower forms of 
animal life, and at length a perfect, full-statured 
being, the ancestor of the gods. Here is one con- 
tinuous act of creation with separate stages. The 
creation of animals is nowhere distinctly mentioned, 
but without doubt it is included in the steps or 
periods of the creative process which occupied 
three days. This binding of the whole of life to- 
gether in creation suggests the most advanced ideas 
of the philosophers of our own time, and is an in- 
stance of the profound meanings which may lurk 
under the simplest myths. 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. 


I23 


The man who at length came forth from the lick- 
ing of the rime clumps was endowed with beauty, 
agility, and power. He was called Buri, the bear- 
ing, and his son was named Bor, the born. Bor 
married a daughter of the giant Bolthorn, and they 
had three sons Odin, Vili, and Ve; and the Edda 
adds, “ it is our belief that this Odin, with his 
brothers, made both heaven and earth, and that 
Odin is his true name, and that he is the most 
mighty of the gods.” 

We have already traced three distinct creative 
steps, and there are three others which may be 
noticed. First, the giants were made from a low, 
coarse form of matter, then an intermediate type 
of being sprang from the action of the serial sphere 
upon matter, called producers or progenitors. Then 
the gods were born from a union of these with the 
giants. The gods were of the giant race, and born 
of matter, but divine elements entered into them, 
and an implacable hatred was to exist forever be- 
tween them and the inert, torpid giants. 

The trinity, or triune brotherhood of gods, repre- 
sented in Odin, Vili, and Ve, was found in the old 
German religion. Tacitus tells us that the god 
Tuisco had a son named Mannus, whose three sons 
were the original ancestors of the three chief Ger- 
man tribes. We find the same in old Indian my- 
thology, where Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are the 
creating, preserving, and judging powers. This trin- 
ity exists in Greek mythology, where the three di- 
vine brothers, Zeus, Pluto, and Neptune, govern 
the world, both separately and conjointly. Odin is 


124 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

breath or spirit, Vili will or power, and Ve holiness. 
Vili and Ve are not spoken of after the creation. 
They are but attributes of the divine nature, and 
are probably merged in Allfather. 

It is hinted in the Edda that the creation of the 
universe resulted from the war between gods and 
giants. We find the same idea of strife in Greek 
mythology, between Zeus and the Titans, before 
the reign of the gods was rendered secure. It 
means the war of opposite and conflicting forces in 
nature, the rending and rifting and upheaving that 
goes on in matter before it becomes organized in 
planets and suns. The gods of the ancients we to- 
day call light, heat, electricity, and motion, forces 
that play in and through matter, so that it can pro- 
duce and sustain life. These were the gods who 
formerly warred upon the giants, and brought forth 
order and life where only chaos before existed. 

But in the Edda all this is told us in poetry in- 
stead of in plain prose. Here is the highly-imagin- 
ative account which the old skald gives us of the 
creation. The three sons of Bor slew the great 
giant Ymir, and there poured from him such a tor- 
rent of blood that all the frost-giants were drowned, 
except one crafty old fellow, named Bergelmir, who 
escaped with his family in a boat, or on a chest. 
He saved his wife, and in time they reared up a 
new race of frost-giants. Here is a verse from the 
elder Edda which describes how Bergelmir got off: 

Ages past counting, 

Ere the earth was formed, 

W as born Bergelmir ; 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. 


125 


Full well I remember 
How this crafty giant 
Secure in his skiff lay. 

The skiff or chest of Bergelmir suggests to the 
mind some fragment of a world saved from a gen- 
eral submergence of the continents, such as geolo- 
gists tell us took place unnumbered ages ago. * 
Odin and his brothers dragged the body of Ymir 
into the middle of Ginnunga-gap or space, and it 
formed the earth, occupying a middle position be- 
tween Muspelheim and Niflheim, the regions above 
and below. It was called Midgard, the middle 
world. From Ymir’s blood they made the oceans, 
seas, and lakes ; from his flesh the land ; from his 
bones the mountains. His teeth and jaws, together 
with some bits of broken bones, served for stones 
and pebbles. The earth they imagined was a flat, 
round disk, with the ocean flowing about it in a 
circle, like the Oceanus of the Greeks. Ymir’s skull 
was uplifted and placed over the earth to form the 
sky, and instead of being supported on the should- 
ers of a huge Titan, like the Greek Atlas, it was 
held in position by four dwarfs, placed one at each 
corner, and called Austri, Vestri, Northri, and 
Suthri — north, south, east, and west. The giant’s 

* It also adds another testimony to the historical truth of the 
Mosaic account of the deluge ; an event which so impressed itself 
upon the minds of men, that the memory of it has been perpetuated 
in the mythology of all heathen nations. Josephus says : “ Now, all 
the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood, and 
of this ark.” Ant., lib. i, cap. iii, sec. 6. For much interesting infor- 
mation concerning heathen traditions of the deluge, see Smith’s 
“ Sacred Annals ; or, Researches into the History and Religion of 
Mankind,” vol. i, chap. v. — E d. 


126 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

brains the gods tossed into the air to make the 
heavy clouds. His hair formed grass and the veg- 
etable kingdom, and with his eye-brows a wall of 
defense was built around Midgard to protect it from 
the assaults of the giants, who lived in Jotunheim, 
on the outer rim of the earth, and were constantly 
making attacks and incursions on the domain of 
gods and men. Midgard — middle-world — was ap- 
pointed as the dwelling-place of men. 

The gods then took the sparks and red-hot cin- 
ders that were cast out of the glowing sphere of 
Muspelheim, and set them in the firmament, both 
above and below, to light heaven and earth. They 
also appointed a place and a path for the lightning 
and fiery meteors. Then came the division of time 
into years and months and days. At first, we are 
told, the heavenly bodies wandered around rather 
vaguely, not knowing their power or station, but 
the gods produced order and regularity of move- 
ment. The sun in the North was feminine and the 
moon masculine, thus reversing what seems to us 
the natural idea of sex as applied to those two orbs. 
In the German and old Norse tongues the moon is 
always of the masculine gender. The reason, it has 
been suggested, is to be found in the fact that the 
northern day is mild and productive, while the night 
is harsh and severe. In the South, the fierce power 
of the sun makes the night lovely. Hence the ex- 
quisite charms of Luna, Diana, and all the moon 
goddesses of Southern mythologies. 

When the work of creation was well advanced, 
the gods took counsel together, and gave a name to 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. 


127 


every light in the sky, and to the new moon, and 
the waning moon. They also gave names to the 
morning and the midday, the forenoon and the 
evening, that mankind might have some means of 
measuring time. This is about all the ancients 
knew of astronomy. We here see that they had 
observed the two principal changes of the moon. 
They reckoned by nights instead of days, and the 
first night of the new year was called the mother- 
night, from a pret.ty fancy that it gave birth to all 
the others. The custom of reckoning .by nights 
instead of days is preserved in the terms sennight 
and fortnight. The oldest year in the North was 
the lunar year; and although some writers claim 
that the twelve principal mansions of the gods refer 
to the twelve months of the year, we know that the 
solar mode of reckoning was not introduced into 
the North before the year 950 of our era. 

Night and day were imagined in the form of two 
beings having a conscious existence, and this is the 
shape they took in the Norse fancy: Njorvi, who 
dwelt in Jotunheim, (giants’ world,) had a daugh- 
ter called Notte, who, like all her race, was of a 
dark and swarthy complexion. She was married 
three times, and her first husband was named 
Naglfari. By him she had a son named Aud, (rich.) 
Her second husband was named Annar, by whom 
she had a daughter, called Jord, (earth.) Lastly, she 
wedded Delling, who belonged to the race of the 
gods, and their son was Day, a fair and beautiful 
child, who resembled his father. Then Allfather 
(Odin) gave Night and Day two horses and two cars, 


128 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

and placed them in the firmament that they might 
successively ride, in twenty-four hours’ time, entirely 
round the earth. Night takes the lead, with her 
wonderful dark horse, called Hrimfaxi, who champs 
his bit, and every morning the earth is bedewed 
with the drops which fall from his foaming mouth. 
Day’s horse is called Skinfaxi, and his shining mane 
beams over heaven and earth. Day is also called 
Glad, and Drosul. The birth of Night amid the 
vast, dim shadows of the giant-world is very sug- 
gestive. She becomes the mother of light and of 
time, because night broods longer in the North than 
elsewhere, and is even a more impressive fact than 
day. 

Day and night are represented as distinct from 
the sun and moon, and driving in different chariots. 
Here is the curious little story about the creation 
of the sun and moon : There was formerly a man 
named Mundilfari, who had two children who were 
so lovely and graceful that he presumed to call the 
boy Mani (moon) and the girl Sol, (sun.) Sol was 
married to a man named Glenur. The gods were 
very angry with Mundilfari for daring to name his 
children after the heavenly bodies, and they took 
the boy and girl away from him and placed them in 
the sky to drive the horses of the sun and moon 
which they had made to light the earth from sparks 
that flew out of Muspelheim, the fire world. Sol’s 
horses were called Arvak (Aurora) and Alsvid, (to 
scorch.) Under their shoulders the gods placed two 
skins filled with air to cool and refresh them, or, 
according to some very old traditions, a freezing 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. 


I29 


substance called isarnkul. A shield called Gralin 
(the cooling) stands before the sun to prevent the 
waves and mountains from taking fire. Mani guides 
the chariot of the moon, and regulates its waxing 
and waning, called Nyi and Nithi. He once caught 
up from the earth two children named Bil (to mount) 
and Hjuki, (to keep warm,) as they were returning 
from a spring, Byrgir, (to conceal,) carrying between 
them the bucket called Saegr (the sea) on a pole 
called Simul. Their father’s name was Vidfinn*, and 
they follow Mani, as we may see from the earth. 

These wonderful children, who carry the sea on a 
pole, are the spots on the moon, which we call the 
man in the moon, or the man, the dog, and the 
bush. This is a popular belief among the Swedes, 
and to this day they point out the children in the 
moon carrying the sea-bucket between them on a 
pole. 

It is a curious fact that no distinct worship of the 
orb of the sun can be found in Norse mythology. 
It would seem more natural for the dwellers in the 
frozen North, than for other nations, to adore the 
source of heat and light. They adored the effects 
of the sun in many forms, but the globe itself had 
no god and no cult or system of worship. 

We have now come to one of the most singular 
and highly imaginative of all these myths, which 
attempt to explain the motions of the sun and 
moon and the cause of eclipses. Here we hear the 
first lispings of science seeking to explore the uni- 
verse and to render a reason for the facts of nature. 
When Gylfi, the wise Swedish king, inquired of the 


130 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

gods why the sun sped so fast through the heavens, 
as if fleeing from destruction, he was told that the 
sun flees because her enemy is not far behind, and 
she has no way of escape but to run. There are 
two fierce wolves forever pursuing the sun and moon. 
The one that chases the sun is called Skoll, the 
smiter. She fears him greatly, for he shall one day 
overtake and devour her. The other wolf is called 
Hati, the hater. He is the son of Hrodvitnir, and 
he runs before the sun and strives to seize on the 
moon, and will one day capture it. The mother of 
these wolves is a giantess, who lives in a wood to 
the east of Midgard, (middle world,) called Jarnvid, 
(the ironwood.) She is the mother of many sons 
who are giants, and all in the form of wolves. The 
worst of this old crone’s offspring was named Mana- 
garm. This monster absorbed the lives of dying 
people into his own, and it is he who will swallow 
up the sun and moon, and sprinkle heaven and 
earth with blood.* 

You have probably guessed that the shadowy old 
crone is mother Night, and her children are the 
wolves of darkness. They overtake the hapless sun 
and moon, and bite large sections from their spheres, 
or wholly devour them : whence come partial and 
total eclipses. The offspring of the old crone of 
the ironwood, who are all wolves, and especially 
the monster Managarm, who absorbs the lives of 
dying people, may hint at the origin of the ter- 
rible were-wolf superstition, so prevalent in the 

* The Mexicans represent an eclipse of the moon as the orb being 
devoured by a dragon, and the Hindus the same. 


HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE. 


l 3 l 

North. There is good reason to suppose that it 
grew out of the belief that the souls of dead or liv- 
ing persons could take up their abode in the bodies 
of animals. 

The distance between these simple myth-makers 
and the great philosopher Newton seems too vast 
to measure, but they were both trying to solve the 
riddle of the heavens. This curious myth is the 
answer of untaught man ; Newton’s answer was the 
law of gravitation. 

Here is the description of an eclipse sublimely 
given in the elder Edda : 

Eastward sat the crone 
In the ironwood, 

And there brought forth 
Fenrir’s offspring. 

Of these shall be 
One worse than all, 

The moon’s devourer, 

In a demon’s guise. 

Filled shall he be 
W ith the fated’s lives ; 

The gods’ abodes 

With the red blood shall stain. 

Then shall the summer’s 
Sun be darkened, 

All weather turn to storm. 


Here we dig down to the root of a very old su- 
perstition which was practiced by many nations, 
even at a late day, and long after its origin was for- 
gotten. I mean the custom of making frightful 
noises, of howling and clashing arms and beating 
on brazen instruments at the time of an eclipse, 
in order to scare away the monsters who were 


132 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

devouring the sun and moon. If any doubt was 
expressed by the incredulous as to the existence of 
the monster, the people had but to point to the 
huge mouthful he had already taken from the en- 
dangered orb. 

Here is the old Norseman’s idea of the origin of 
winds : At the northern extremity of the heavens 
sits a giant called Hraesvelger. He is clad in eagle 
plumes, and when he beats his wings or spreads 
them out for flight, the winds arise from under them 
and rush down on the earth. This huge sky eagle 
is more poetical than the Greek yEolus, who kept 
the winds tied up in bags. 

The personification of summer and winter is first 
found here in the North. Summer is gentle and 
delicate, and all that is mild and sweet comes in his 
train. Winter, like all his race, has a freezing 
breath, and is grim and gloomy and dark of aspect. 
These two shall reign alternately ; but, in the far 
North, winter often usurps the place of his brother, 
and absorbs far more than half the year. 


THE NINE WORLDS. 


133 


CHAPTER X. 

THE NINE WORLDS, THE HEAVENLY HOUSES, AND 
THE CREATION OF ASK AND EMBLA. 



HE universe is now complete, or at least that 


J- portion of it which the ancients could see with 
their unassisted eyes. The first condition of things 
was evil, because darkness prevailed, and light, in 
the form of the gods, had not yet been born. The 
universe arose from a conflict of forces, or, as the 
old myth-makers express it, the fight of the gods 
with the giant Ymir, which resulted in the destruc- 
tion of the latter and the creation of all visible 
things from his body. 

The frost-giants, first of created beings, are the 
familiar old Greek Titans, with whom all of us who 
have studied Greek mythology are well acquainted. 
In the North they have been transformed into vast 
snow jokuls and icebergs, in accordance with the cli- 
mate. The gods sprang from matter or the giants, 
acted upon by higher or celestial forces. They 
made, in their turn, heaven and earth, and the 
abodes of various ranks of created beings. Until a 
home was provided for men, dwarfs, and elves, they 
could not come into existence. 

We are not to suppose that the heaven and earth 
made by Odin from Ymir’s body were the vast stel- 


134 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 

lar universe. We have seen that the ancients re- 
garded the stars as mere sparks which had flown 
out of Muspelheim, the fire-region, and were fixed 
in the sky by the gods as lamps to light the void 
abyss. Odin w’as lovingly called Allfather, or fa- 
ther of all men. He ruled directly over the earth, 
called Midgard, middle world, and his own special 
realm of Asgard, or Asenheim, gods’ world ; and 
his influence appears to have extended indirectly 
ove; some of the other spheres or mythic worlds of 
the ancients. These worlds are nine in number, 
beginning with Muspelheim, the highest fire-world, 
or realm of Surtur, who existed before the birth of 
Odin. In the highest and purest part of Muspel- 
heim we find the golden mansion called Gimli, the 
future home of the righteous. The second realm 
is Asgard, gods’ world, which forms the vaulted 
sky. In the midst of this world is the vast field of 
Ida, where the gods hold their Althing or muster 
for war. Here, at the center of the universe, is 
Odin’s high seat or throne, called Hildskjalf, which 
towers above the highest peak of creation. The 
third world is called Vanaheim, the world of vans, 
spirits of air and water, that occupy the middle space 
between heaven and earth, a region filled with 
clouds and vapor. The fourth sphere is Manaheim, 
or Midgard, the world of men occupying the round 
disk of the earth, and circled by the great world 
ocean. Midgard includes that part of heaven which 
borders on it ; and this border, which we call the 
horizon, was supposed to form a wall of defense 
against the giants, who occupied the rim of the 


THE NINE WORLDS. 


135 


earth. The fifth world is Alfheim, sphere of the 
active little light-elves, who have a certain limited 
rule over the earth’s surface and the lower layer of 
air which touches it. They are the busy principle 
of growth in roots and leaves and grasses and 
grains. The sixth world is called Svartalfheim, or 
world of dark elves, which occupies the interior of 
the earth. These elves understand the art of metal 
working, and are the possessors of gems and gold. 
Popular fancy has confounded the dark and light 
elves and the dwarfs of heathenism, and from them 
has sprung all our fairy lore. The seventh world is 
called Jotunheim, world of giants. Mountain wastes 
were given to these beings, and also the rim or bor- 
der of the earth, which was supposed to slope down- 
ward toward the North. The giants are not always 
confined to their own proper world, but sometimes 
live within the circle of the ocean. The eighth 
world is the lower region, or abode of the dead, 
called Helheim. A way led down to it from the 
North through Jotunheim, over Gjoll River and the 
shining gold- roofed bridge called Gjallar-brue. The 
ninth world is Niflheim, that immensity of mist 
which lies without the universe of Odin’s creation, 
and over which the gods have no control. 

The nine worlds are now made, and we have a 
bridge connecting the under world with earth. 
Another glorious bridge, called Bifrost, (aerial or 
quaking space,) unites earth and heaven. It is 
made of three colors, woven together with great 
art and skill, and men call it the rainbow. Al- 
though it is very strong, it shall one day be broken 


136 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

in pieces, for the sons of Muspel (the light-elves) 
will ride over it to invade Asgard, the city of the 
gods. 

This glorious city, with its golden palaces, stands 
in the middle of the heavenly plain, called Ida. 
Like the Greek Olympus, the city of the gods ap- 
pears to be sometimes on the earth and sometimes 
to occupy a place in heaven. 

After Asgard was built, Allfather appointed rulers 
and judges, and bade them help him judge and 
regulate the government of the celestial city. The 
form of government adopted was precisely that of 
the old Norsemen. The deities met and held a 
thing, or assembly, on the plain of Ida, at the very 
center of heaven. They built a court or temple, 
(hof,) and erected twelve doom-seats in a circle for 
the judges, lesser gods, and a throne, or high seat, 
for Allfather. This hall is the largest and finest in 
the universe, and shines both inside and out with 
pure gold. It is called Gladsheim, or the house of 
gladness. 

They built another house for the Asynjur, or 
goddesses, which is lovely to look upon. It is 
the abode of love and harmony, for it is called 
Vingolf, the house of friends.* The golden man- 
sions of the gods numbered twelve or more. The 
severity of the Northern climate made every idea 
of happiness center in a good and well-built home. 
The gods’ mansions were copied exactly after the 
houses of earth, only they were more spacious, and 
were made of gems and gold and all rare and pre- 

* Noble matrons were received into this home after death. 


THE NINE WORLDS. 


137 


cious things. Perhaps they were suggested to the 
poet’s mind by the purple and golden cloud towers 
and turrets of a gorgeous sunset sky. 

Gladsheim, the blest abode of the gods, has al- 
ready been mentioned. There is another heavenly 
house, roofed with silver, and called Valaskjalf, 
which Odin, in the beginning of time, made very 
curiously. That palace contains the loftiest of all 
thrones or high seats, called Hildskjalf, the shelf 
from which Allfather looks out over his universe, 
and sees what all creatures are doing. At the 
world’s southern extremity is that exceedingly 
bright and glorious hall, called Gimli, which will 
stand when both heaven and earth pass away, and 
good and upright men will inherit that place to all 
eternity. There is another heaven to the south 
above this, called Audlung, and a third, still higher, 
called Vidblain, “in which last we believe this hall 
to be ; but we believe that only the light-elves now 
inhabit these places.” 

It is this and other passages in the Edda which 
lead us to think that the ancient men of our race 
cherished a belief in a final abode of the blessed, a 
higher heaven, called Gimli, where the just would 
dwell eternally, after Odin and his HLsir had passed 
away. In connection with this I will give you from 
the prose Edda what is said of the spiritual attri- 
butes of Allfather : “ In old Asgard he had twelve 
names. He lives from all ages, he governs all 
realms, he sways all things great and small. He 
has formed heaven, earth, and air, and all things 
belonging thereto. And what is more, he has 


138 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

made man, and given him a soul which shall live 
and never perish, though the body shall have mold- 
ered away, or been burned to ashes. And all that 
are righteous shall dwell with him in the place 
called Gimli, or Vingolf ; but the wicked shall go 
to Hel, and thence to Niflhel, which is below, in 
the ninth world.” 

In this place Odin is to dwell in Gimli, with the 
blest and regenerated spirits, while in other pas- 
sages Gimli is spoken of as existing after Odin and 
his heaven have passed away at Ragnarock. These 
contradictions may have arisen in the course of 
ages from several interpretations or renderings of 
the same myth. But we do know that the immor- 
tality of the soul, and a future state of bliss for the 
good and of suffering and misery for the evil, is 
distinctly stated. These doctrines were held by 
advanced minds ; but Odin, the war-god, and Thor, 
the god of strength, shaped the lives and religious 
sentiments of the nation. 

After the gods had finished building their homes 
they erected a smithy, and furnished it with ham- 
mers, tongs, and anvils, and with these they made 
all the other implements with which they worked 
in metal, wood, and stone. They possessed so 
much gold that they made of it all their utensils 
and furniture. For this reason it was called the 
Golden Age of the gods. It lasted until at length 
three women came out of Jotunheim, giants’ 
world, and corrupted it. This is the account of 
the Golden Age of Norse religion given in the 
elder Edda : 


THE NINE WORLDS. 


139 


The ^Esir [gods] met 
On Ida’s plain, 

Altars and temples 
Upraised high ; 

Furnaces constructed, 

Forged precious things, 

Fashioned tongs, 

And fabricated tools ; 

At dice they played, 

In their dwelling joyful ; 

Rich, too, they were 
In ruddy gold, 

Until thither three 
Thurs maidens came 
From Jotunheim. 

In Grecian mythology the gods give the art of 
metal-working to man. Hephaestos, (Vulcan,) the 
useful spirit of fire, was the artist and smith of 
Olympus. So important is this art to any advance 
in civilization, that men could not believe they had 
invented it, and so came to look upon it as a gift of 
the gods. But observe well this curious story of 
the Norse Golden Age. Among the Greeks the 
Golden Age was a time when mankind was pure 
and innocent and free ; when there was no war, 
sickness, or old age, and the fruits of the earth grew 
spontaneously. In the North it was a time of great 
happiness, mirth, and jollity among the gods, until 
giant women came out of the North and corrupted 
Godland. These women were probably the three 
Fates, called Norns, who lived among the giants 
before the birth of the gods. It hints at a time in 
the remote past when the doctrine of fatalism was 
grafted upon a simple system of nature-worship. 
Gods and men ceased to employ themselves wholly 


140 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

with the present, and began to reflect about the 
future. The thinking faculties were aroused, ques- 
tions were asked about the strife between good and 
evil, the final destiny of the soul, and the destruc- 
tion of the world. Then the age of unthinking, 
animal happiness passed away forever, and the re- 
ligion of the North became what is called intel- 
lectual and speculative, all of which seems indicated 
by those few lines in the Edda which tell us that 
three giant maidens came out of Jotunheim, and 
destroyed the Golden Age. 

In the prose Edda of Snorro Sturleson, the dwarfs 
are created after man, but in the elder Edda they 
come first into existence. In the Sagas and le- 
gends they appear as an older, and, in some re- 
spects, wiser, race of beings, who know where gems 
and gold are hidden, and have in their keeping 
some of the minor secrets of nature, and who pos- 
sess a limited power over the underground world. 
They are sometimes the teachers and helpers of 
men in the art of metal working, and sometimes the 
enemies of the human race. Old German and Scan- 
dinavian nursery tales and folk-lore swarm with tiny 
dwarfs and elves. These, with the popular giants 
and trolls of heathen times, are all that is left of the 
old religion in the memory of the common people. 

This is the story of the creation of the dwarfs : 
The gods sat down upon their thrones, or doom- 
seats, and distributed justice. They took notice 
that little beings called dwarfs had been brought 
to life in the mold of the earth as worms are 
bred in a dead body. It was in old giant Ymir’s 


THE NINE WORLDS. 


141 

flesh that the dwarfs had begun to live and move. 
At first they were mere worms of the dust ; but 
now, by a decree of the gods, they received human 
understandings and bodies, and their dwelling-place 
was confined to the earth, and to rocks and stones 
and caverns. The chief dwarf was called Modsog- 
nir, and the second Durin. After these, great num- 
bers were formed in the earth at the command of 
Durin. The dwarfs of Lofar’s race are mentioned, 
who betook themselves from the rocky halls to the 
plains of Jora. Their names all allude to hidden 
workings of nature in minerals and plants. They 
also refer to cold and heat, light and color. They 
seem to have had control of a certain narrow 
realm under the earth, and they are identical with 
the swart or dark elves of mythology. As they 
lived and delved in the dark they could not endure 
the light of the sun. This was also the case with 
the trolls or giants, and is referred to in thou- 
sands of popular stories. The sun’s rays turned 
the dwarfs to stone and caused the trolls to burst. 
The dwarfs had the power of changing their shape 
and assuming the appearance of an animal or of a 
fish. They could also return to their original form 
— that of the earth-worm, serpent, or dragon, as is 
illustrated by the story of Sigurd and the dwarf 
Fafnir. 

There is some reason to believe that dwarfs, elves, 
and trolls existed in the mind of the North before 
the Asa faith was introduced. They may have been 
part of the nature-worship of a small-statured race 
of men, like the ancestors of the Lapps and Finns, 


142 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

who first peopled the earth and air with tiny aerial 
or grotesque beings. There is more to be said 
about this when we come to consider Northern 
folk-lore. 

We have now come to the creation of the first 
man and woman, for Norse mythology traces the 
human family back to a single pair. I have already 
told you that the trinity of gods who killed Ymir 
and made the world were Odin, Vili, and Ve. The 
prose Edda tells us that these three brothers, sons 
of Bor, were one day walking on the sea-shore, 
when they found two trees, which they took up and 
changed — the one into a man, the other into a 
woman. The ash was peculiarly sacred to the 
Norse people. From this very tough wood they 
made man, while woman was created from the 
graceful elm. Odin gave them life and spirit, Vili 
endowed them with reason and the power of mo- 
tion, and Ve gave them speech, features, hearing, 
and vision. The gods called the man Ask and the 
woman Embla. From these two have descended 
the whole human race, who live in Midgard, or 
Middle-world. 

The account in the elder Edda differs a little from 
the above. There, instead of Odin, Vili, and Ve, 
we have Odin, Hcenir, and Lodur, who one day 
left the assembly of the gods to take an excursion. 
They found on the earth Ask and Embla, (ash and 
elm,) with little power and without destiny. Spirit 
they had not, nor sense, nor blood, nor power of 
motion, nor fair color. Odin gave them spirit, 
Hoenir sense and understanding, and Lodur gave 


THE NINE WORLDS. 143 

them warm, red blood, quickness of feeling, and 
keenness of sense. 

Here we have a new trinity which takes the place 
of the old one. Vili and Ve, being attributes of deity, 
were probably absorbed into the godhead of Odin 
after the first act of creation. In the second act, 
Hoenir, who is the seeing or perceiving god, endows 
man with perception, and awakes him to a life of 
thought ; Lodur, who is the fire-god, Loki, in his 
heavenly state, when he is mild, ethereal warmth, 
reddens his blood and quickens his senses. 

It is probable that the creation of man did not 
take place until after the Fates, or Norns, those 
three giant maidens, came from giants’ world into 
gods’ world, and a destiny was decreed for both 
gods and men. Before that time men were merely 
trees, inert and rooted to the ground ; but after- 
ward they began to think and move. The Norns 
exist independently of the gods, but the judgment- 
seat of the gods is near the sacred Urdar fountain 
and under the care of the Norns. All things hap- 
pen because the Norns have decreed them. The 
gods are the active agents who execute their 
decrees. 

This beautiful myth of the creation of man and 
woman from two living, growing trees, which stand 
as a link in the great chain of development, bears 
little resemblance to the story of the creation of 
human beings in Greek mythology. To be sure, 
Pandora, the first woman, was fashioned out of clay 
by Hephsestos, (Vulcan,) and then endowed with the 
different attributes of life, as Ask and Embla were 


144 TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

endowed by the three divinities. But in the ancient 
Persian faith we find a striking resemblance ; for 
there, we are told, the first man and woman, Me- 
shia and Meshiane, were made from trees. The 
Greeks fancied human beings as springing from mud, 
stones, and earth. The Norse conception, taking a 
higher form of life already organized in trees, and 
changing it into the man Ask and the woman Embla, 
is very striking and original ; but it is in strict ac- 
cordance with their whole system of creation, which 
does not attempt to explain the way in which mat- 
ter was made, but gradually unfolds one form of 
life from another. The Greeks peopled trees with 
dryads and hamadryads, and the nature of the tree 
entered into those beautiful beings, who lived as 
long as the tree lived ; but there is no separate act 
of creation in their religion so profound and sug- 
gestive as ash and elm changed into the first man 
and woman.* 

A learned Icelandic scholar has conjectured that 
the three Norse gods engaged in the creation were 
symbols for air, light, and heat ; which act first on 
gross matter and form the visible world, and finally 
on vegetable substances, and change them into liv- 
ing organisms. The poet must have perceived the 
beauty of ash and elm, growing in the Northern for- 
est and yearning blindly for a higher life until the 
gods, decreed by fate, came and changed them into 
Ask and Embla. 

* I find that in Hesiod Zeus creates the third race of men out of 
ash trees. This myth was, therefore, not unknown to the Greeks. 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 145 


CHAPTER XI. 

YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 

W E have now come to the most sublime myth 
of Northern mythology, and perhaps the most 
beautiful and suggestive myth of any ancient relig- 
ion. It shows us how profoundly those nameless 
seers and poets thought and felt, for they have 
shaped a symbol which binds the universe together, 
from a grain of sand to the most distant star, under 
the image of a vast tree, forever growing at the top 
and dying at the root. 

We do not know when or why the ash tree be- 
came the most sacred tree of the North. The first 
man, Ask, was made from it, and perhaps for this 
reason its sanctity was so great that it was planted 
in the middle of the universe, to shadow with its 
roots all created worlds. Man represented so much 
to the mind of the old myth-maker that he said 
the gods made the universe out of his image, the 
giant Ymir. The symbolism of the universe-tree, 
Yggdrasill, is so vast and sublime that it is impos- 
sible to explain it fully. Perhaps some of the 
myths which would throw light on its meanings 
have perished. But we know, in a general way, 
that it is both the tree of life and the tree of knowl- 
edge ; and, though it is preyed upon by many de- 
10 


146 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

structive forces, even at Ragnarock, the twilight of 
the gods, it will only be shaken to its topmost twig 
— it cannot be destroyed. Though the sun darkens, 
and the moon falls from the sky, and earth and the 
visible heaven crumble to pieces, the principle of 
life, the power of God to evoke a new universe, re- 
mains intact. 

Almost every old religion has its sacred trees, and 
to the worship of the tree is often joined that of the 
serpent. It is possible that the ash Yggdrasill, and 
the world-serpent Nidhogg gnawing at its roots, 
may be this old Eastern faith transformed and en- 
dowed with a grandeur not to be found elsewhere. 
Now in the South, in Greece, the sacred trees were 
the olive, the myrtle, and laurel, but the Norseman 
went to his Northern woods and chose for a symbol 
the enduring ash, to represent to his mind how all 
things grow and die forever, and are bound together 
in a perfect whole. We know that trees were re- 
vered by our Teutonic and Norse ancestors from 
the earliest ages. Tacitus tells us how the old Ger- 
mans worshiped in groves. An old writer, Adam 
of Bremen, tells us that an evergreen tree stood 
near the famous temple of Upsala, in Sweden, upon 
which offerings were hung. Near by was the sacred 
spring where the victims were washed. In the Scan- 
dinavian story of the Volsungs, on which the great 
German epic of the Nibelungen Lied is based, a 
sacred tree, the Branstock, grows in the king’s court, 
in the middle of his hall, and is hung round with 
the votive weapons of the warriors consecrated to 
Odin. Yggdrasill and the holy Urdar fount beneath 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 1 47 

its roots may be the offering-tree and the well of 
sacrifice, imagined as growing at the center of things 
and forming a visible symbol of the universe. 

When, in the prose Edda, the wise Swedish King 
Gylfi, or Gangler, inquires of the gods concerning 
their chief or holiest seat, he is told that it lies un- 
der the ash-tree Yggdrasill, where they hold a coun- 
cil or thing every day. This ash is the largest and 
best of trees, for its branches spread over the whole 
world, and reach even above the heavens. It has 
three roots. The first shadows the gods, or ^Esir ; 
the second extends over the frost-giants, where was 
formerly the abyss of abysses called Ginnunga-gap ; 
and the third stands above Niflheim, the abode of 
the dead, and the spring Hvergelmir. There is an- 
other account which tells us that under the first 
root is the abode of Hel, the goddess of death ; 
under the second, the home of the frost-giants ; and 
under the third, the world of human beings. But, 
however it is expressed, it is evident that Yggdrasill 
overshadows, not only suns and worlds, but the re- 
gion of crude material or gross matter from which 
they were made. This is the ancients’ mode of 
saying that one principle binds together the whole 
of things. 

The root over Niflheim (mist world) is constantly 
gnawed from beneath by the serpent Nidhogg. The 
serpent means Death, who is forever at work upon 
the roots of the tree of life. Under the second 
root, or, according to the prose Edda, that which 
stretches over toward the frost-giants, is Mimir’s 
well, in which wisdom, wit, and genius lie concealed. 


I4B TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Mimir is full of wisdom, because he drinks every 
morning the waters of this well from his Giallar 
horn. Allfather once came and craved a drink from 
the well, but he did not get it before he had given 
Mimir one of his eyes in pledge ; whence it is said 
that Mimir drinks mead every morning from Allfa- 
ther’s pledge. Mimir is sometimes called Hod- 
mimir, which may be defined Circle-Mimir. He 
embraces all things, like the sweep of the horizon. 

This myth, when interpreted, means that Mirmir 
is the encircling sea. Odin, who is the sky god, 
gives his great flaming eye, the sun, in pledge for 
a draught, when each night he sinks down into the 
waves. But in time Mimir’s well came to be the 
great source or spring of the spirit, whence all be- 
ings draw wisdom. It is the fountain of earthly in- 
tellect, and Odin, as god of mind, is forced to drink 
of it, though at great cost. 

The Norns, or Fates, also possess a beautiful 
fountain which is the source of prophetic or super- 
natural wisdom. Odin is obliged to drink of both 
springs, which symbolize the intellectual and spir- 
itual nature of man — man as a thinking and as an 
aspiring being. Allfather has one eye in the firma- 
ment, with which he sees all that passes in heaven 
and on earth, while the other sinks into the sea and 
learns its secrets. You will now understand why he 
is represented as a one-eyed man. 

The third root of the universe-tree is in heaven, 
gods’ world, and under it lies the sacred Urdar 
fount. This well is opposite to Mimir’s fount. 
The one is as high as the other is low, but wisdom 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 149 

and inspiration lie in both. The Norns, or Fates, 
keep this well, and here the gods sit in judgment. 
Their chief doomstead is by the Urdar fountain. 
Every day they come riding up here in splendid ar- 
ray over Bifrost bridge, which you know is the 
beautiful three-stranded rainbow, and is called the 
Aisir bridge. The gods were excellent horsemen, 
and they all possessed good steeds, except the sum- 
mer-god, Baldur, whose horse, as we shall see, was 
burned with him on the funeral pile ; and Thor, 
who always goes on foot, and is obliged every day 
to wade the rivers called Kormt and Ormt ; and 
two others called K£rlang, (the sea.) If he did not 
thus cool the fervency of his lightning and thunder- 
bolts, the y£sir bridge would be in a blaze, and the 
holy water would grow boiling hot. As thunder- 
god he could not be permitted to go over Bifrost, 
and was forced to wade great rivers. Thor wading 
the sea to cool his thunder-bolts would form a fine 
subject for art. 

As I have told you, there are many beautiful 
homes in the Norse heaven, and a very fair shining 
hall stands near the Urdar fountain, where live the 
three Norns called Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, (Past, 
Present, and Future.) They closely resemble the 
three Grecian Parcae, or Fates, who spin man’s des- 
tiny, draw out the thread of his existence, and cut 
it off with a pair of sharp shears. Ancient art has 
given us no representation of the Norns. We only 
know that they, too, are spinners and weavers of the 
thread of life. It seems plain, however, that they 
grew from the same idea that gave birth to their 


150 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Grecian sisters. They probably traveled from the 
far East in a remote period of time, and received 
different names in Greece and in Scandinavia ; but 
they are always the same mysterious beings, who 
shape man’s destiny, appoint his birth and death 
hour, and mark out for him a path of life from 
which he cannot swerve. In modern times we have 
given new names to these dread sisters. We call 
them temperament, hereditary tendency, and the 
circumstances of life. But the ancients were more 
poetical ; they thought in living images, and the 
picture of the three dread Norns spinning under 
the universe-tree, by the side of the Urdar fountain, 
will always impress the mind more than any abstract 
terms that can be invented. 

The three Norns have a dignity equal to the 
gods. Indeed they are older than the ALsir, who 
are unable to change their decrees. As in Grecian 
mythology, they stand in some mystical way behind 
the throne of Allfather, an uncreated, self-existent 
power. 

The principal Norns engrave on shields and tab- 
lets, and determine the lives of all men. But besides 
these there are other Norns, of a lower grade, who 
are present at the birth of every child to mark out 
his future destiny. These are both good and bad, 
for some of them are akin to the gods, and some 
sprang from the elves, and others are children of 
the dwarfs. This was the old Norseman’s curious 
mode of explaining the diversity of human fortune 
and the varying dispositions of men. Good fortune 
came from the good, well-born Norns, while evil 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 1 5 I 

fortune was due to those of low and doubtful 
origin. 

This idea of a companion Norn, or Fate, to whom 
was ascribed all the chances and mischances of life, 
gave birth to many strange superstitions which still 
linger in the Northern mind. There were attendant 
spirits attached to races, to families, to individuals, 
and even to districts of country. The familiar at- 
tached to each person through life was called in 
Norway and Iceland Fylgia. A person at the point 
of death often saw his Fylgia, which presented it- 
self in the form of an animal or a bird. The female 
attendant spirits were called Disir, and were rever- 
enced all over the North. When Christianity was 
established guardian angels took the place of the 
attendant Norns.* In the first place Fylgjur were, 
doubtless, ancestral spirits supposed to interest 
themselves in the affairs of their immediate descend- 
ants. They still linger in the form of ghosts at- 
tached to families, which show themselves previous 
to a death or any great misfortune in the house- 
hold. 

. The Valkyrjur, or corse-choosers of Odin, partook 
of the nature of Norns. They selected the heroes 
who were slain in battle, and fixed their destiny in 
the other world, by conducting them to Valhalla, 

* The superstitions prevalent among many ancient and mod- 
ern nations concerning attendant spirits are only corruptions of 
the great truth so forcibly stated in the Epistle to the He- 
brews, i, 14 : “ Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? ” They also 
point to the existence and working of evil spirits — another revealed 
truth. — E d. 


152 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the warriors’ heaven. They rode through the air 
on horses with the swiftness of the wind. Skuld, 
(the Future,) the youngest Norn, is also called a 
Valkyrja. This dread but beautiful. band of sisters, 
Odin’s corse-choosers, also practiced spinning and 
weaving of an awful sort, as we shall see when we 
come to a more particular account of these god- 
desses. The Norns, Parcse, Fates, whatever we 
may call them, so sublime and austere in Northern 
and Grecian mythology, have suffered many strange 
transformations. The modern witch is only a Fate, 
or Valkyrja, degraded. Instead of riding through 
the air on a magnificent coal-black or snowy steed, 
sister to the lightning and the whirlwind, and ruling 
the destinies of the world, she now, in the popular 
fancy, rides on a broomstick, and plagues people, 
or injures cattle by low arts of sorcery. This shows 
how hard an old myth dies. It will suffer a hundred 
changes before it finally passes from the minds of 
the people, or ceases in some way to influence their 
lives. 

We can imagine Urd, old but sublime of aspect, 
with the majesty of the past on her head ; Verdandi, 
fully developed like a beautiful matron, in the per- 
fect enjoyment of the present ; and Skuld, slender 
and youthful, and full of grace, looking eagerly into 
the secrets of the future. 

The Urdar fountain of the Norns reminds us that 
the Greeks also believed that the deepest wisdom, 
and, especially, prophetic wisdom, lay in a fountain. 
The temple at Delphi was built over such a spring, 
and the Pythoness sat above it to prophesy. The 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 1 53 

vapors arising from the well threw her into a state 
of ecstasy. How, in the first place, the idea of a 
fountain was connected with the seat of wisdom, 
we do not know. The depth, clearness, and mys- 
tery of a well of pure water may have awakened 
the image of the divine mind. The Urdar fountain, 
under the third or highest root of Yggdrasill, was a 
beautiful way of expressing the thought through a 
symbol, that, somewhere, there is a boundless reser- 
voir of spiritual power, by which we strive to image 
the nature of God. 

In the branches of the universe-tree, Yggdrasill, 
sits an eagle that knows many things. Between the 
eagle’s eyes sits the hawk, Vedurfolnir, (storm- 
stiller.) The squirrel named Ratatosk runs up and 
down the ash, and seeks to cause strife between the 
eagle and Nidhogg, (darkness, death.) Four harts 
run through the branches of the tree and bite the 
buds. They are called Dainn, Dvalinn, Duneyr, and 
Durathror, and their names refer to sleep, to the 
act of swooning, and to reason. But there are so 
many snakes with Nidhogg in Hvergelmir that no 
tongue can count them. It is said in the elder 
Edda: 

Yggdrasill’s ash 
More hardship bears 
Than men imagine ; 

The hart bijtes above, 

At the sides it rots, 

Below gnaws Nidhogg. 

It is impossible to give a complete explanation 
of the animals and birds that live in the ash. The 
eagle, with the hawk between its eyes, bears some 


154 TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

analogy to the mystic eagle of Hindu mythology. 
The strife between the eagle and the serpent, kept 
up by the nimble squirrel that runs between them, 
doubtless means the conflict of forces in nature — 
the endless war of life and death. The four harts 
which dart through the branches and bite the ten- 
der young buds, and whose names mainly refer to 
sleep and oblivion, seem a beautiful image of the 
swift and silent power of death over young things 
that can never mature. But these are only hints 
and suggestions of what the old mjTh-makers in- 
tended to convey by this wonderful imagery; for 
the key to the great symbol is lost, probably never 
to be recovered. The universe-tree is a myth whose 
truth and grandeur we deeply feel, although we 
could no more express it than we could express 
eternity, time, space, or the starry heavens. It 
grew from a sense of awe in the old Norseman’s 
mind, as he saw life every-where struggling with 
death, but still unsubdued. He felt the power of 
the invisible world flowing into and refreshing all 
things. He could only give shape to his idea in 
some vague, stupendous image, and thus grew the 
Yggdrasill-tree, which must indicate life and death, 
growth and decay, God and destiny. 

But little light has yet been thrown on the strange 
serpent-divinity adored in so many parts of the 
world. Some modern scholars maintain that the 
spirits of dead ancestors were supposed to have 
taken up their abodes in serpents, especially those 
that crept into houses, and that they were looked 
upon as deceased friends returning to visit the old 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. I 55 

home. Others would have us believe that the wor- 
ship of the serpent arose from fear of his fangs. 
The snake is unlike any other being, and possesses 
a terrible power to fascinate and destroy. Perhaps, 
at first, he was regarded as an evil spirit, who must 
be appeased by prayers and offerings. If this was 
ever true, a great change took place in his worship, 
for in time the serpent-god became the symbol of 
health, joy, and good fortune. There are traces of 
serpent-worship to be met with in the North. We 
are told that tame snakes were kept in houses, in 
some parts of Sweden, as late as the sixteenth cent- 
ury. They were fed with milk by the inmates, and 
if they died or were killed the people grieved, be- 
cause they feared that good luck had forsaken them. 
The folk-lore of the North abounds in tales of snakes 
and dragons endowed with supernatural powers, and 
which point to old and forgotten beliefs. As the 
North produces few venomous or large snakes, there 
is proof that this strange worship must have been 
brought from the far East.* 

Tree-worship is easier to comprehend. In hot 
countries the grateful shade and fruit of the tree, as 
well as the beauty of its form, flowers, and verdure, 
would naturally lead the simple savage to look upon 


* The tales of snakes and dragons, indued with supernatural pow- 
ers, that are found in Northern folk-lore and in the mythologies of 
all, or nearly all, nations, are corrupted records of the ruin wrought 
by that “ old serpent, the devil ; ” (see Genesis iii ;) and abundantly il- 
lustrate his desire for human worship and the power he has acquired 
over the human race. Whatever of truth exists in these traditions 
and superstitions may be clearly determined by careful study of the 
Holy Scriptures. See Smith's “ Sacred Annals,” vol. i, chap. ii. — E d. 


156 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

it as the dwelling-place of a kind and gentle deity. 
The first temples of the gods were natural groves, 
selected for shade and convenience, and the sanctity 
of the rites there performed finally passed into the 
trees and made them holy. But, more than all, the 
intoxicating qualities of the juices of some trees 
and plants led the savage to the belief that a spirit 
dwelt in them. Indeed, we still call such fermented 
juices spirits, and thus hint at the origin of that old 
forgotten faith. Among the Greeks Dionysus (Bac- 
chus) was the spirit of wine, imagined in the form 
of a young man, but he was also the vine itself, with 
its bright green leaves and purple clusters. 

Every day the Norns sprinkle the universe-tree 
with the water from the Urdar fountain, that its 
branches may not rot or wither away. This water 
is so sacred that every thing placed in it becomes 
as white as the film within an egg-shell. It is the 
well of purity, thus described in the elder Edda : 

An ash know I standing 
Named Yggdrasill, 

A stately tree, sprinkled 
With water the purest. 

Thence come the dew-drops 
That fall in the dales. 

Ever blooming it stands 
Over the Urdar fountain. 

The drops shaken from the boughs of Yggdrasill 
form the dew in the meadows. It is called honey- 
dew, and is the food of bees. The three stately 
sister Norns, sprinkling the tree of life with the 
water of wisdom and inspiration, would make a beau- 
tiful subject for art. Two swans live and are fed in 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 1 57 

the Urdar fountain, and from them have descended 
all the swans in the world. Perhaps the fact that 
swans swam in the heavenly Urdar fountain ac- 
counts for the sanctity of this beautiful bird in the 
North. Mermaidens, as we shall see, took this form. 
They could lay aside their feather dresses at will, 
and become beautiful young women. If a man was 
lucky enough to steal a swan-maiden’s dress, he had 
power over her henceforth, and could make her his 
wife. This pretty myth is found in many countries, 
and it is said that it can be traced back to white 
clouds flecking the blue sky. But the change of 
nature seems to belong to the same order as the 
were-wolf transformation. It is effected by putting 
on a skin, and accords with myriads of superstitions 
which show us that the ancients believed that hu- 
man spirits could take up their abode in animal 
forms. 

Odin Allfather hung nine nights on the ash 
Yggdrasill. He was obliged to get possession of 
Mimir’s head in order to discover the secrets of the 
under world. The word Mimir signifies the pos- 
sessor of knowledge. He belonged to the old giant 
race, and could see farther into the darkness and 
mystery of the past than the more newly-created 
gods. The jotuns had witnessed the creation of the 
Atsir and of the world, and foresaw the final de- 
struction of both. In the old poems we are con- 
stantly told that the gods were obliged to seek in- 
struction from those who had lived before them. 
In the Voluspa, one of the principal Eddaic lays, a 
vala, or prophetess, brought up among the giants, 




158 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

rises from the abyss to reveal the secrets of past 
and future ages to men. This wisdom of the great 
deep, the under world, Mimir keeps hidden in his 
wonderful well. The heavenly god, Odin, symbol- 
izing light, must go down there to learn it ; and he 
goes at evening when the sun sinks like a fiery ball 
into the cool waves. The sun is the eye of Odin, 
used both in a natural and spiritual sense. It is 
pledged for the drink he gets from Mimir’s well 
when thirsty for knowledge ; but in the brightness 
of the dawn the sun comes up joyously from the 
under world, and Mimir quaffs its pure rays, repre- 
sented by a draught of delicious mead, from a gold- 
en horn or drinking-cup. 

This beautiful myth expresses the interchange of 
light and darkness, the compromise between Odin 
and Mimir, day and night. We can see how it 
sprang directly from a sun-myth, but, like Aaron’s 
rod, it was finally made to blossom with spiritual 
meanings. This took place when men began to 
think about the interchange of the spirit-world and 
the world of human intelligences. Odin, though 
the father of gods and men, still must learn from 
nature. His teachableness and humility, in drink- 
ing from every source of knowledge, is one of the 
most beautiful lessons of Northern mythology. 

Probably the golden horn hid in Mimir’s well, 
the sun dropped into the sea, gave rise to the com- 
mon belief, still cherished by children, that a golden 
cup or a bag of gold lies at the end of the rainbow. 
All the stories of a golden treasure hid in a river or 
lake, like the Nibelungen hoard hid in the Rhine, 


YGGDRASILL, THE UNIVERSE-TREE. 1 59 

and watched over by guardian spirits, took their 
rise from this old sun-myth, so marvelously changed 
in the course of ages. 

I told you that Odin was obliged to get posses- 
sion of Mimir’s head to gain full knowledge of the 
secrets of the under-world. In an old saga, called 
the Ynglinga Saga, we learn how this was done. 
Much doubt is thrown on the antiquity of many 
parts of this saga ; but the myth of Mimir’s head 
bears marks of age, and was probably copied from 
some older work. 

At one time the JEsir, gods, and the Vanir, spirits 
of air and water, were at war. This is thought to refer 
to the struggle of light to break through the thick, 
murky vapors that covered the primeval world. But 
at last the heavenly gods and the air and sea-gods 
made peace and exchanged hostages. The Vans gave 
to the JEsir Njord the Rich, whom the wise powers 
had created in Vanaheim, (sea-gods’ world,) together 
with his children, Frey and Frigga. The gods, on 
their part, gave Hoenir as a hostage, and sent him 
to Mimir, from whom in return they received Kva- 
sir, the most prudent of all the Vans. Hoenir was 
raised to the chieftainship over the Vans, but in all 
assemblies where good counsel was required Mi- 
mir was obliged to whisper in Hoenir’s ear every 
word he should say, and in his absence Hoenir con- 
stantly answered, “ Consult ye now others.” The 
Vans, therefore, thinking themselves deceived, slew 
Mimir, and sent his head to Odin, who so prepared 
it with herbs and incantations, that it spoke to him 
and told him many hidden things. 


l6o TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

This and other myths about the ^Esir and Vans 
may vaguely point to changes in religious faith, or, 
as has been conjectured, to a conflict between the 
ancient water worshipers and the worshipers of 
light and fire. The head of Mimir, the seat of 
knowledge and power, now passed into the keep- 
ing of Odin, who may have been raised up to chief- 
tainship on the merging of some rival system into 
his own. 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. l6l 


CHAPTER XII. 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 
HERE are three ways in which every import- 



-L ant myth ought to be studied : the historical, 
the religious, and the natural. We shall look at 
Skyfather Odin in all these ways, and, to begin, 
we will contemplate him as a real person, who act- 
ually lived upon the earth. 

The historical hints which occur in myths may 
refer to incidents in the lives of great men, to 
changes in religion, or to the emigration of races. 
That there is much disguised biography in myths 
has been held from before Herodotus’ day. 

It has been conjectured that a priestly class came 
to Scandinavia from the far East at the time when 
a priest was king, and also god, in the estimation 
of his followers, and established a new religion on 
the foundations of the old. If there is any truth in 
this idea it was then, probably, that Skyfather, the 
father of Nature, and Allfather, the father of the 
generations of men, was stamped with some of 
those qualities which transformed him into Valfa- 
ther, the father of the slain. But I believe Valfa- 
ther to have been a slow growth of the Northern 
mind, as the nation gradually developed its warlike 
propensities and lost sight of the early ideals formed 


11 


1 62 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

at a time when it may have been composed of wan- 
dering, pastoral tribes. 

We know that the early kings of many nations 
were worshiped as gods. They traced their lineage 
back to the national deities, and after death received 
divine honors. The historical Odin may have been 
invented by some imaginative writer of early chron- 
icles to furnish a divine ancestor for the Northern 
kings. The account dates from the thirteenth cen- 
tury, and is not to be trusted as fact ; but it may 
possibly be based on some tradition of an invader 
from Asia, who emigrated to the north of Europe 
and brought new laws and religious customs in his 
train, and either subdued or drove out the natives. 
There are vague legends in existence of a race of 
giants who inhabited Sweden and Norway, and who, 
when overcome by conquerors from the East, took 
refuge in mountains, rocks, and caves, and became 
the ancestors of the trolls or popular giants of 
Northern folk-lore. 

There are also stories of another race of aborig- 
ines, very small people, who were driven into the far 
North by those same Eastern foes, and became the 
ancestors of the Lapps and Finns, who have always 
been famed for their skill in sorcery and magic, and 
may have originated a kind of earth or nature-wor- 
ship, which took the form of a belief in giants and 
dwarfs. As the conquered races would not give 
up their faith, the conquerors may gradually have 
adopted it, and worked it into the body of their own 
religion. There are vague marks of the blending of 
two or more systems of faith in the Norse myths. 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 1 63 

The story of the historical Odin is not at all to 
be trusted as fact, but it may refer to the now for- 
gotten time when people from Asia, members of 
the great Gothic or Germanic family, did invade, 
and finally get possession of, the North. Odin was 
a great Eastern king, a man deeply versed in magic 
and in the mysteries of a new religion, to propagate 
which he fought and conquered many nations. He 
is said to have arrived in the North about seventy 
years before the birth of Christ. The story relates 
that when Mithridates, the famous king of Pontus, 
was forced to fly before Pompey, the Roman gen- 
eral, he took refuge in the forests of Scythia, and 
tried to rouse the barbarous tribes to fight against 
Rome. Odin was a Scythian king, and, like the 
other kings of that region, was unable to withstand 
Pompey. He therefore fled from the power of 
Rome, and emigrated to a new country. 

His real name is said to have been Sigge, son of 
Fridulph, but he took the name of Odin, the su- 
preme god of the Teutons, or Germans, either be- 
cause he wished to pass as a god, or because he 
was a pontiff or high-priest of the religion of Odin. 
King Odin ruled the JEslr, whose country, it is 
conjectured, lay between the Black and Caspian 
Seas. Their principal city was called Asgard, and 
they were very famous for the worship paid to the 
supreme god. 

Odin drew under his banner the young men of 
many nations, and led them toward the North and 
West of Europe. Many royal and noble families be- 
lieved themselves descended from this semi-divine 


164 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Odin, who tarried in his progress at various points 
in the North. Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon chiefs 
who conquered Britain in the fifth century of our 
era, called Odin, or Woden, their ancestor. The 
Asiatic Odin is fabled to have conquered many 
countries, over all of which he placed kings and 
governors. Finally he reached Scandinavia, after 
passing through Cimbria, a part of northern Den- 
mark, which, as I have told you, was nearly de- 
populated by the destruction of its people by 
Marius. 

Odin subdued Denmark, and placed his son, 
Skjold, on the throne. He also built the city of 
Odense, in Sweden, which remains to this day. 
He set up his children as rulers, and gave them 
crowns, but took none himself. In Sweden there 
was a wise prince, named Gylfi, about whom there 
are many fables. The prose Edda tells us that this 
Gylfi, under the name of Gangler, visited the -gods 
and received instruction in divine things. Gylfi 
worshiped Odin as a divinity. The Swedes crowd- 
ed about him to do him honor, and made his son, 
Yngv, their king, for Gylfi had either died or been 
dethroned. Odin established new laws and cus- 
toms, and at the ancient city of Sigtuna, in the 
same province as Stockholm, he set up a supreme 
tribunal, or court, composed of twelve priest-judges, 
who dealt out justice and presided over the new 
worship. Thus Odin established the form of gov- 
ernment which we saw prevailing in Iceland in the 
ninth century. 

There were many petty kings in Sweden, and 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 1 65 

they all acknowledged Odin as supreme ruler. He 
was the first to lay a poll-tax, that is a tax on every 
head, for the support of the government. Norway 
was quickly subdued by his power, and he placed 
his son, Saeming, on the throne. His large family 
of sons enabled him to stock the whole north of 
Europe with kings. 

After he had finished his work he went back into 
Sweden, and felt his end approaching. He would 
not wait the delay of death, but, calling his friends 
and old companions about him, he inflicted nine 
wounds, in the form of a circle, upon himself with 
his lance, and many more with his sword. In his 
dying moments Odin declared he was going back 
to Asgard to take his seat among the other gods 
at an eternal banquet, where he would welcome all 
who died fighting bravely with arms in their hands. 
His body was carried to Sigtuna, and burned on a 
funeral pile. 

The Icelandic writers depict this mythical Asiatic 
Odin, half god, half hero, half priest, half king, in 
the brightest colors. He was the most eloquent 
and persuasive of men. He was a poet, and first 
taught the beautiful poetic art to the Scandinavian 
skalds. He was the inventor of the Runic alpha- 
bet, and very skillful in magic. He could pass from 
one end of the earth to the other in the twinkling 
of an eye, and had control over the air, and could 
raise storms or lay them at his pleasure. He could 
take any shape he pleased of bird, or beast, or fish, 
and could bring the dead to life, and foretell future 
events by means of enchantment. It was in his 


1 66 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

power to take away health and vigor from his ene- 
mies, and to discover all the treasures hidden in the 
earth. He knew how to sing airs so tender and 
sweet that mountains would open with delight, and 
ghosts come from the infernal world and stand 
about him, mute and entranced. He was as terri- 
ble in battle as he was great and accomplished in 
all other things. 

This strange story may refer to a real invader, 
civilizer, and magician, who brought new arts, laws, 
and religious ideas into the North, and to whom 
the credulous people, in after ages, gave the name 
and attributes of their chief god. Beyond this 
it cannot be trusted. Some modern writers would 
have us believe that Odin, the deified man, was not 
a personification of nature, or of mind, or of war, 
but a human being, whose real adventures were 
finally changed into myths. However the myths 
arose, we know they were finally woven into an 
elaborate system of religion, and were used to ex- 
plain the facts of nature and the mysteries of life 
and death. It is my province to deal with them as 
they exist. 

We now turn to the god Allfather, called Odin 
in Scandinavia, and Woden in Germany. He is 
one and the same. You will ask how we know this 
god was also worshiped by the ancient Germans. 
In the first place, one of our days of the week is 
named after him. Wednesday means Odin’s or 
Woden’s day. Thus we see how language crystal- 
lizes a faith in common words, and keeps it from 
utterly perishing. The Germans have no Edda. 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 1 67 

They have no great ballads or poems which pre- 
serve the remains of the religion of their heathen 
forefathers. But they have old traditions and cus- 
toms, and a folk-lore, or stories of the people, which 
have come down from the Eastern times, and many 
of which show unmistakable signs of their pagan 
parentage. 

It was the policy of the first Christian priests to 
destroy every vestige of the old faith, in the hope 
of loosening the ancient superstitions, which were 
so firmly rooted in the people’s minds. They could 
pull down temples and overthrow altars and idols, 
but they could not destroy the fables and traditions 
which old dames told to the children about their 
knees. Some of these were mystic stories about 
the gods, changed into popular tales, and from such 
as have come down to us we know that the Ger- 
mans worshiped at least some of the Norseman’s 
gods. 

I ought to say that the great ancient epic poem 
of the Germans, the Nibelungen Lied, bears unmis- 
takable traces of its heathen origin, although it 
has been worked over by Christian poets now un- 
known. 

Some scholars tell us Woden was worshiped by 
all the German tribes ; others believe his worship 
extended to the Northern tribes principally, or to 
those tribes that wandered from North to South. 
It is said that no trace of his worship can be found 
among the Bavarians, and his name, applied to the 
fourth day of the week, is not found in what are 
called High German dialects. We are told in the 


1 68 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Icelandic Chronicles that Odin subdued Saxland, 
the land of the Saxons, and there is every rea- 
son to believe that the conquering Saxons carried 
his worship into Britain. The ancient faith of 
Odin is still found fossilized in names all over the 
North. In England there is a Wednesburg ; in 
Sweden we find Odense, Odensberg, and Odenskirk ; 
and in Germany Odinswald. Some knowledge of 
the ancient German gods can be gleaned from the 
decrees of early Christian councils, prohibiting their 
worship by name. From all these sources it seems 
certain that the Odinic system of worship, substan- 
tially as it was held farther North, prevailed in 
Germany. 

Though the old chronicle writers found no diffi- 
culty in constructing a history of Odin, such as I 
have given you, Allfather still remains one of the 
most puzzling gods of mythology. Though he 
bears some resemblance to one or two other gods, 
he differs from them more widely than he agrees 
with them, and where his worship first arose is still 
an unanswered question. The Romans confounded 
him with their tricky messenger-god, Mercury, who 
guided the dead to Hades, partly because Odin 
was also lord of the dead, and partly because Wed- 
nesday, the fourth day of the week, corresponded 
with dies Mercurii , the same day in the Roman 
calendar. But the resemblance was only superfi- 
cial, and has long been discarded by scholars. 

When researches were begun with a view of trac- 
ing the Western and Northern gods back to their 
Eastern sources, it was thought, for a time, the 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 1 69 

discovery had been made, and that Odin was no 
other than Boden, or Buddha, the great Eastern re- 
former and prophet. The fourth day of the week, in 
the Orient, is called Budhvar. But the character of 
Buddha is opposed to Odin as light is to darkness. 
Buddha was the meek, gentle prophet of peace. 
His chief command was, “ Thou shalt not kill,” and 
his chief doctrine the annihilation of self and ab- 
sorption of the soul into God. He was deified con- 
templation, while Odin was deified action. With 
Buddha the hope of the world lay in peace ; with 
Odin in war. Buddha threw down the idols of his 
people, and would allow no god to be worshiped un- 
der the form of an image, but the Norse faith em- 
braced a multitude of gods, and permitted the 
adoration of idols. 

It is needless to point out further differences be- 
tween Buddhism and Odinism to prove that they 
are not the same. Some of the doctrines of the 
Norse religion, like tree and serpent worship, can 
be traced back to the East. Probably the whole 
foundation of the faith in simple nature worship 
was brought from that quarter into Scandinavia ; 
how and when we do not know ; but its later form 
and unfolding is due to the Norseman, who stamped 
upon it, unconsciously, his genius, his restlessness, 
and his indomitable energy. As has been well said, 
the sluggish, sleepy gods of the East, when brought 
to the cold North, woke up and began to act. 

Odin denotes breath or spirit, as I think, implied 
in moving or rushing wind ; for his name has been 
traced to a root which means impetuous, furious, 


170 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

rabid, insane ; probably indicating that his fury in 
battle could not be checked. He was mind-god, 
nature-god, and war-god in one ; and Allfather, the 
parent of generations of men and gods. The double 
character of Odin must always be kept in view. He 
is both the creator and the destroyer, the god of 
life and of death. He makes men, but he also 
causes his favorites to be destroyed that they may 
people Valhalla. All these opposite qualities in the 
character of Odin show that the ideas which form 
the nature of a god grow very slowly in the mind 
of the nation. No god is made, even if it be a poor, 
old, senseless idol. He grows, or is slowly evolved, 
from the thoughts and feelings and lives of the 
people.* 

t 

* The study of mythology does not lead to the conclusion that the 
ideas of God, as held by heathen nations, ancient or modern, are 
growths from some primal cognition of the Almighty ; but that they 
are the fractured, imperfect, confused notions that have descended 
through long ages, from an epoch when men’s knowledge of him was 
equal to that of the patriarch Job and his friends. Man can only 
express his conceptions of Jehovah in language drawn from the phe- 
nomena of nature, which “ in its origin was naught else than a beau- 
tiful image — a pure emanation — a wonderful creation — a sport of 
Omnipotent love.” “ That which may be known of God is manifest 
in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible 
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being 
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and 
Godhead ; so that they are without excuse.” Rom. i, 19, 20. The 
phenomenal representation of God is in harmony with the language 
of the Scriptures, which speak of him as immanent in nature, and 
yet as transcending nature. But man, owing to his fallen, sinful na- 
ture, manifests a powerful tendency to transfer to the natural sym- 
bols the attributes and perfections of the Being symbolized. He has 
first deified and then sensualized nature, and has subsequently sub- 
jected natural facts and forces to the same process. In this way the 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 171 

The Icelandic poets call Odin the terrible and 
severe god, the father of slaughter ; he who giveth 
victory and reviveth courage in the conflict ; who 
nameth those who are to be slain. He is not like 
the ease-loving, indolent Zeus, (Jupiter,) who some- 
times goes to sleep on Olympus. Odin never closes 
his one eye in sleep. The battle-field is the place 
he loves with ardor, and he goes into the fight with 
a joyous heart. 

Men in the North were much given to making 
vows over their great drinking-horns foaming with 
mead. It was customary for warriors to vow when 
they went into battle, and pledge themselves to send 
so many souls to Valfather, the father of the slain. 
Odin’s aid was prayed for in every war, and he was 
loudly appealed to by both sides. As in the case 
of the Greek fighting gods, it was believed that he 
often came down in person and took part in the 
battle, to inspire the fighters with courage. Some- 
times with his own hand he smote down his favor- 
ites to secure their company in Valhalla. 

There were men in the North who gave them- 
selves to Odin by a religious vow, or were given to 
him in their childhood by parents or guardians. 
These men, the people believed, must die a violent 


Norse Allfather and his Asgard associates came into existence. Mere 
historical traditions also modified popular notions of the gods, and 
made them the curious mixtures of good and evil described in all 
mythologies. “When once the sacred standard and clew of truth 
are lost, when the due order of things and of doctrines is once in- 
verted, then the mind of man often associates the sublime, the mys- 
terious, and the wonderful with the mean, the perverse, and the 
wicked.” Schlegel’s “ Philosophy of History,” p. 216 . — Ed. 


172 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

death, or at least be marked in their dying hour by 
the point of some weapon. 

There is a very dramatic story told of an old 
Danish king called Harald Hildatand, who, from 
his childhood, was consecrated to Odin. Through 
a long life of conflict the god helped him in battle, 
but at last, when he was very old and had become 
blind, Allfather stirred up strife between him and 
his nephew, Sigurd Ring. His last battle was the 
great fight of Bravalla Heath, where the old, blind 
Harald drove in his war chariot, and Odin was seen 
guiding the chariot of his favorite in the guise of an 
aged military chieftain ; but in the very thick of the 
fight he turned upon the old king and smote him 
to death with his own war-club. 

The idea of Odin as a deified warrior, fully armed 
and inspired by the fury of battle, was the favorite 
idea of the Norseman. This conception grew out 
of his love of warfare, and Odin was the ideal by 
which he justified war, and made it seem a holy 
employment. But the war-god was only one of 
Odin’s manifestations, and one, as we have seen, of 
late growth. Though he usually wore the human 
form, he could change his shape, and lie as one en- 
tranced, while he took the appearance of a bird, 
beast, or fish. This is a symbol of his various modes 
of operating in and through nature. We are told 
that he never called himself by the same name dur- 
ing his wanderings among the people. This also 
expresses the thought that his ways of acting and 
revealing himself in the world were infinite in num- 
ber and diverse in means. He had twelve principal 


ALLFATHER IN HISTORY AND IN NATURE. 1 73 

names to express some of his powers and attributes, 
but as his attributes were manifold, his names could 
not be counted. 

The Edda tells us that Odin directs all things, 
high and low, great and small. He has made the 
heaven, the air, and man, who is to live forever. 
He is the subtle spirit that fills the world, and his 
children are his various modes of showing himself, 
as in air, water, light, growth, and decay. He is 
mind-god, and, therefore, seeks every-where for 
wisdom and knowledge, drinks of Mimir’s fountain, 
visits the Urdar well of the three sister Norns, and 
finally sits down with Saga, goddess of history, by 
the stream of Time, and talks delightedly with her 
about the past. What can be more beautiful than 
Allfather and Saga calmly conversing together on 
the bank of the stream of Time ? 

Skyfather Odin, from the fact of his being sky- 
father, must needs marry mother Earth, whom the 
Norsemen called Frigga, for his chief wife. This is 
the poetical way in which many nations have ex- 
pressed the fact that light and heat and moisture 
affect the earth, and cause it to bring forth fruits. 

Now Odin, being the sky, with his single blazing 
eye — the sun — unites in various ways with matter, 
and a large family of children are born. Frigga 
bears Thor, the thunder-god, the Northern Hera- 
kles, who endures much for the world. In the 
spring Odin, with his light and heat, quickened the 
frozen ground, which appeared to him under the 
symbol of a giant maiden, and the silent Vidar was 
born, the undying power which lurks even in decay, 


174 TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

and will outlive Ragnarock. Frigga also bears to 
him Baldur, the bright summer, so passionately 
loved in the far North, and the spiritual god of 
beauty and innocence and love. Hodur, the dark, 
blind winter, slays his brother Baldur unwittingly. 
He is also a son of Odin and Frigga. Another of 
their children is Vali, the beautiful new year, who 
avenges the death of Baldur, and in turn kills win- 
ter with the bright falchion of spring sunshine. 
Bragi, the god of eloquence, is Odin’s son, because 
he is mindfather as well as skyfather. He has 
other children — Hermod, the errand or messenger- 
god, and Tyr, the god of valor. Some of the chief 
gods, as we shall see, were adopted from the Vans. 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 


175 


CHAPTER XIII. 

VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 

I HAVE told you of the Golden Age among the 
gods, when they made beautiful works in gold, 
lived merrily, and played at dice, until three maid- 
ens, undoubtedly the Norns, or Fates, came out of 
Jotunheim, and spoiled their pleasant life. It w r as 
probably at this time that the gods made the heav- 
enly homes, and roofed and inlaid and furnished 
them with gold. There is a myth about gold, which 
is imagined in the form of a maiden, called Gull- 
veig. Men, it seems, were innocent and pure, and 
unacquainted with warfare, until their cupidity and 
lust for gain were aroused by Gullveig, and they 
killed her, in Odin’s hall, (the world,) piercing her 
through with spears. Three times they burned her, 
and th^ree times she was born anew. This may 
refer to the process of refining gold by fire. 
Though Gullveig causes so much mischief among 
men, she is ever welcome when she comes to a 
house. People praise her, and call her a prophet- 
ess, (vala.) She understands witchcraft, can tame 
wolves, and delights wicked women. 

After the murder of Gullveig, the gods sat down 
upon their doom-seats, and took counsel together 
as to whether they should punish mankind for this 


176 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

misdeed, or should accept an atonement called a 
blood-fine. But Odin arose and cast a spear among 
men, and instantly war and slaughter began to rage. 
The defenses of the gods, the shining walls of the 
heavenly homes, were broken down, and the Vans, 
or sea-gods, heard the sound of war, and hastened 
to the strife. The Valkyrjur, Odin’s choosers of 
the slain, beautiful but terrible maidens, came, 
ready to ride to the defense of gods’ world. Skuld 
came with her shield, and also Skogul, Garmhild, 
Gondul, and Gier Skogul. Odin sent these mar- 
tial maids to every battle-field to choose those 
who should fall, to decide the victory according 
to his will, and to conduct the souls of the slain 
heroes to Valhalla. The lightnings play about 
them as they course through the air and ocean on 
their fiery steeds, with bloody corselets, and radi- 
ant spears. When their horses shake their manes 
dew falls in the deep valleys and hail on the high 
forests. 

The myth of Gullveig, personified gold, and of 
the first war among men, is highly poetical and 
imaginative. Odin, casting his spear over mankind, 
would make a fine subject for art. In commemora- 
tion of this myth, it was customary for the attack- 
ing chief, at the opening of a battle, to cast his spear 
over the hostile force. 

Gullveig was a giant maiden, because gold was 
evil, and came from the bad race of Jotuns, who 
understood the secrets of the earth, and knew 
where it lay hidden in the ground. Gold awoke 
greed and avarice and the lust of gain in the hu- 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 1 77 

man heart, set brother against brother, and was 
the cause of the first war on earth. 

The myth of the Valkyrjur is equally inspiring to 
the imagination, and has long been a favorite theme 
with Northern artists and poets. As a nature-myth 
it grew out of the rapid motion of clouds driven by 
fierce winds, the racing of waves, and the confusion 
of the elements in sublime storms, when the fancy 
can easily form weird, wild shapes out of masses of 
vapor whirling through the sky. But when Odin 
became Valfather, and the god of battles, the na- 
tional type of woman, such as Tacitus describes, 
and such as we saw among the ancient Cimbri, was 
lifted up into the position of a terrible but glorious 
war-goddess, and her attributes were combined with 
those of the still older storm-goddess of a pure na- 
ture worship. The stern women who slaughtered 
their husbands and kindred when they retreated 
from battle, could create in the poet’s imagination 
the myth of the war-loving Valkyrjur, but the horses 
of the Valkyrjur, with dew falling from their manes, 
and the lightnings flashing about them, show that 
they arose from some old idea connected with 
waves and clouds and moving tempests, which, to 
the excited fancy, bore some resemblance to maid- 
ens with streaming hair spurring their fierce steeds 
to the field of battle. The names of these divini- 
ties hint at the fact that originally they were noth- 
ing but wind and tempest. It is instructive to trace 
them all through their growth and degradation, for, 
strange to say, the splendid Valkyrjur of Odin’s 
battle-fields, his maiden goddesses of Valhalla, have 
12 


178 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

now become mere witches and other wicked female 
spirits. In the old mythology they were gifted 
with prophetic power, and one of the stately Nrons 
was of their number. This power in the lowest 
degree is retained by the witch fortune-teller of our 
story-books, who must have her palm crossed with 
a piece of silver. 

Is it not strange that we can trace the genealogy 
of these degraded beings back to a moving cloud 
and a puff of wind ? Thus we see that the study of 
mythology can free the mind from many popular 
superstitions by digging down to their root in some 
natural appearance. 

The Greek Allfather, Zeus, had a circle of twelve 
chief gods and goddesses, who occupied thrones in 
the heavenly court. Odin had nominally the same 
number of gods, whom he assembled in the doom- 
ring. The resemblance between Olympus and As- 
gard seems more than accidental. These myths, 
we feel, must have sprung from the great mother 
myth in ages so long past that the time is lost from 
the memory of man.* 

* “ In general,” remarks the learned and profound Frederick von 
Schlegel, “ the first ten holy Progenitors, or Patriarchs of the primi- 
tive world are mentioned under different names in the Sagas, not 
only of the Indians, but of several other Asiatic nations, though un- 
doubtedly with important variations, and not without much poetic 
coloring. But as in these traditions we can clearly discern the same 
general traits of history, this diversity of representation serves only 
to corroborate the main truth, and to illustrate it more fully and 
forcibly. 

“ These nations had received much from the primeval source of 
sacred tradition ; but they regarded as a peculiar possession, and 
represented under peculiar forms, the common blessings of primitive 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 


179 


The darkest chapter in Northern mythology re- 
lates to human sacrifices. Though the Norns ap- 
pointed the term of man’s life, Odin, in a more 
special sense, was the controller of his destiny. It 
was believed that the blood of human victims was 
sweet and nourishing to Odin. Incredible as it 
seems to us now, that the men of a kindred race 
could have ever held such a belief, we know that it 
was held by them as late as the middle of the ninth 
century of our era. If a man was about to die, the 
faith was often very strong in his mind that Odin 
would prolong his life if any one could be found to 
die in his stead. The same idea was held by the 
Greeks, as we see in the touching story of Alcestis, 
who offers up her own life to prolong that of her 
husband, Admetus, who selfishly accepts of the 
sacrifice. 

When a king or prince fell sick, and was in dan- 
ger of death, a human victim was slaughtered, and 
the deluded people believed that Odin appeared at 
the altar and accepted the sacrifice in place of the 
doomed man. 

I have told you that the Icelanders were averse 
to these hideous rites, but even in Iceland the prac- 
tice is known to have existed, from the fact that a 

revelation, and, instead of preserving in their integrity and purity 
the traditions and oracles of the primitive world, they overlaid them 
with poetical ornament, so that their traditions wear a fabulous 
aspect, until a nearer and more patient investigation clearly discov- 
ers in them the main features of historic truth.” — “ Philosophy of 
History,” p. 96. 

The same remarks apply with equal force to the legendary lore of 
the Norsemen and Germans. — E d. 


180 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

well and stone of sacrifice for human victims were 
found near every thingstead. Scholars have sought 
to dig down to the very root of human sacrifice, to 
find out how it arose. They claim to have discov- 
ered it in the cannibal age or period, through which 
many savage tribes pass, and of which, as in the 
Fijians, we have existing examples. These people 
devour their captives in war, and not infrequently 
eat each other. When a chief dies he is raised to 
the position of a god, and receives divine honors, 
and the people believe that he feeds literally on the 
soul of the victim, a material substance, like the 
body which they devour. Repulsive and horrible 
as the idea is, we see traces of it in the Odinic rites, 
where the god is supposed to draw nourishment 
from human victims. But it does not follow that 
the Norseman was any more degraded in the prac- 
tice of his religion than other nations of antiquity. 
It was practiced by the refined and cultivated 
Greeks, who, in early ages, offered up men, women, 
and children on their altars ; and the annals of hea- 
thenism all over the earth are stained with human 
blood. 

Christianity struggled long and untiringly with 
these dark rites, and for a long time only succeeded 
in making a compromise. One of the superstitions 
most deeply rooted in the Northern mind was the 
idea that the foundations of bridges and buildings 
would not stand unless a human victim was inclosed 
alive in the walls, or they were stained with human 
blood. This was done to appease the evil spirits 
of the water and the earth, who were averse to 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. l8l 

having their domain invaded. For many genera- 
tions after the adoption of Christianity this terrible 
custom prevailed. We are told that the Church 
consented to a compromise by allowing a live lamb, 
symbol of the sacrifice on Calvary, to be buried in 
the church walls. 

But the heathen dread still clung to the people’s 
minds, and, as late as the Middle Ages, it is record- 
ed that an innocent little girl was walled in alive to 
strengthen the ramparts of Copenhagen, which had 
begun to sink, owing, probably, to a quicksand. It 
required ages for the people to learn that God is 
not a monster who feeds on human blood, but a 
Spirit of love and justice, and the soul of mercy; 
and the lesson, in the height and- depth of its sub- 
lime meanings, is not yet comprehended. 

Although Odin was every-where Allfather, and 
also Valfather, or father of the slain, he was not 
worshiped every-where in the North with equal 
fervor and devotion. The Norwegians and Ice- 
landers chose Thor for their national deity, and 
fondly named him Almighty God, in the sense of 
his being the strongest god. The Swedes paid 
great reverence to Frey, the god of the earth’s fer- 
tility, and the Danes, Gothlanders, and Saxons were 
devoted to the worship of Odin. There are traces 
of two sects in the North, that of Odin and that of 
Thor, but they do not appear to have differed at all 
in doctrine, but only in the favoritism shown to 
their chief god. 

Odin is described as a tall, one-eyed old man, with 
a long beard, a broad-brimmed hat, and a large, 


I&2 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

blue, shadowy cloak, and with the spear, Gungnir, 
in his hand, and the ring, Draupnir, on his arm. 
On his shoulders sit two ravens, and at his feet lie 
two wolves. Over his head is the constellation 
called Charles’ Wain, which we know as the cluster 
of seven stars called Ursa Major, or the Great Bear. 
This was probably the manner in which he was rep- 
resented sitting in the high-seat of the great temple 
at Upsala, where Thor and Frey occupied lower 
thrones. 

The elder Edda tells us that Odin is the absolute 
ruler and governor of all things ; and that all the 
other gods, however powerful, must serve and obey 
him like children. His wife, the earth goddess 
Frigga, foresees the destinies of men, but cannot 
reveal them. Like nature, she holds the secrets of 
the year in her bosom, and speaks only in growth 
and decay. Forty-nine names are given to Odin in 
the prose Edda, and it is there explained that this 
great diversity of names is owing to the many dif- 
ferent languages in which he is worshiped. Each 
nation was obliged to translate his name into its 
own tongue. Many of these names relate to his 
journeys and adventures, which are told in the elder 
Edda. The stories of Odin’s travels, accompanied 
by Loki and other gods, were the earliest wonder- 
lore of the North. 

We have now come to the best known of all the 
Northern myths, the story of Odin’s hero-heaven, 
Valhalla, the house of the slain. It was a vast and 
glorious hall, planned accurately on the model of 
the old Scandinavian dwelling, with a lofty high 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 


183 


seat for Odin, and lower seats for his heroes, where 
they sat and feasted with contented minds. Odin 
was the jarl of heaven, and his heroes were his 
faithful henchmen. Valhalla stood in the midst of 
Gladsheim, the glad or joyous land, and was re- 
splendent both within and without with precious 
gems and gold. In the Grimnis Lay of the elder 
Edda we have the following description : 

Five hundred doors 
And forty more, 

Methinks, are in Valhalla; 

Eight hundred heroes through each door 

Shall issue forth 

Against the wolf to combat. 

The ceiling of the mighty hall is formed of spears, 
and it is roofed with shields. The benches where 
the heroes sit are strewn with coats of mail. Before 
the west door hangs a wolf, and over him hovers an 
eagle. The hero-hall is surrounded by a roaring, 
raging river, called Thund, and before it is a paling 
or lattice, called Jalgrind. 

When Gylfi or Gangler inquires of the gods how 
the vast crowd of heroes in Valhalla is fed, he is 
told that the flesh of the boar, Saehrimnir, will more 
than suffice for their sustenance ; for although this 
boar is cut in pieces, sodden and boiled every morn- 
ing, it becomes whole again every night. The cook 
of Valhalla is called Andhrimnir, and the kettle he 
uses Eldhrimnir. In Grimnis Lay we are told that 
Andhrimnir cooks, in Eldhrimnir, Saehrimnir. This 
heavenly pork or bacon, we are assured, is the best 
of meat. It was the old Norseman’s favorite flesh, 
and he could think of nothing better with which to 


1 84 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

feed the heroes of Valhalla. But this gross earthly 
fare was not fit food for Allfather. Odin, while he 
sat at table with his heroes, fed his portion of the 
boar to his two pet wolves, Geri and Freki. Wine 
was Odin’s only sustenance. It was his meat and 
drink, as we are told in Grimnis Lay : 

Geri and Freki 
Feedeth the warfaring 
Famed father of hosts ; 

For ’tis with wine only 
That Odin, in arms renowned, 

Is nourished for ages. 

While Odin sits banqueting on his throne, two 
ravens perch on his shoulders, and whisper in his 
ear tidings of the things and events they have seen 
and heard while flying over the whole world. They 
are Odin’s mind symbols, and are called Hugin and 
Munin, (thought and memory.) He sends them out 
at daybreak, and they fly over the world and return 
at the hour of supper, the principal meal among 
the Norsemen, and also, it appears, in heaven. All- 
father, in Grimnis Lay, tells us that : 

Hugin and Munin 

Each dawn take their flight 

Earth’s fields over. 

I fear me for Hugin 
Lest he come not back, 

But much more for Munin. 

Odin’s ravens are the powers of the mind sent 
abroad on the wings of reflection and imagination. 
Memory can be depended on less than thought, and 
it is a curious point in this myth that Odin, the su- 
preme god, is represented as troubled and anxious 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 1 8 $ 

lest thought and memory should not return to 
him — lest, in other words, he should lose the su- 
preme intellectual powers which made him the cre- 
ator of the human spirit. Only by effort could he 
drink in wisdom and knowledge from all sources, 
and only by anxious care and watchfulness were his 
mighty forces preserved. In this lies a great lesson. 

The Einharjar, or heroes of Valhalla, are thirsty 
souls, but there is an abundance of good drink 
in Odin’s hall. The marvelous she-goat, Heidrun, 
stands above Valhalla, and feeds on the leaves of 
a very famous tree, called Lerad or Laerath, and 
mead flows from her teats in such great abundance, 
that every day a stoup, or drinking vessel, is filled 
with it, large enough to suffice for all the heroes. 
The goat, Heidrun, signifies heavenly sustenance, 
the natural and spiritual powers of nourishment 
supposed to fall from on high. It is another form 
of expression for the water of life. It probably 
grew from some pure nature- myth now forgotten. 

Still more remarkable is the stag, Eikthyrnir, 
who also stands over the hall of Odin, and feeds on 
the leaves of the same tree which sustains the mead- 
giving goat. From the stag’s horns drops continu- 
ally fall into the fountain, called Hvergelmir, and 
many rivers are formed, some of which flow through 
gods’ world, while others pass through the king- 
dom of men, and then fall into Hel’s regions. 

While the heroes sit at table they are waited on 
by the beautiful Valkyrjur, who pour out the heav- 
enly mead and have entire charge of the table ser- 
vice. The number of this band of sisters is some- 


1 86 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

times given as three, sometimes as nine, thirteen, or 
twenty-seven, and often as an indefinite number.* 
As Odin in Valhalla was only a warlike chief, 
grander than any mortal monarch, but of the same 
kind, his slain heroes were his faithful henchmen, 
bound to him by every tie of loyalty. Daily they 
exercised themselves in arms like mortal heroes. 
Every morning, as soon as they had dressed them- 
selves, they rode into the court, or tilting field, and 
there fought until they had cut each other to pieces. 
Then, as meal-time approached, having been mirac 
ulously restored to life, they mounted their horses, 
rode back to the hall, and calmly partook of break 
fast. Their lives were passed between feasting and 
fighting, and this was precisely the life of a North- 
ern chief. We thus see how impossible it is for 
man to form an idea of a material heaven higher 
than the level of his own desires. But behind 
Odin’s hero-paradise there lay a doctrine which had 
its root deep down in the spiritual ideas of the 
North, and, as some scholars think, can be traced 
back to Persian, Median, and Chaldean myths of 
great antiquity — the belief in the final destruction of 
the gods and the existing universe. Odin was forced 
to gather heroes into Valhalla, and they were obliged 
to practice continually in arms against the dread 
day that he knew was approaching, the twilight of 
the gods, when he was doomed to fight and to fall. 

“The Einherjar all 

On Odin’s plains 

Hew daily each other, 

* The Valkyrjur were all of womankind who were admitted into the heaven of 
the slain. 


VALFATHER AND VALHALLA. 


IS/ 


While chosen the slain are. 

From the fray they then i-ide 

And drink ale with the ^Esir 

We shall see, when we come to the folk-lore and 
popular traditions of the North, how Odin, Woden, 
or Wode, still lingers in the excited fancy of the 
superstitious as the wild huntsman who often fig- 
ures in weird stories and ballads. As the Valkyrja 
has now taken to riding broomsticks, Allfather 
Odin is degraded to the position of a hobgoblin. 
But in his palmy days Odin was more than Val- 
father, or even Allfather. He was a mark of the 
civilization of his age, and his meaning can be fully 
grasped only when we study all the effects and ten- 
dencies of war on a half savage people. You may 
ask, in astonishment, Can there be a moral side to 
warfare? and the answer is, that in a very rude 
stage of society war may indirectly lead to good by 
uniting several small tribes under the leadership of 
one strong chief, and thus forming the nucleus of a 
nation. It is also said that the skill developed in 
making weapons and armor taught men the art of 
metal working, and led them to fashion tools for 
industrial purposes, which they never could have 
made without the practice thus acquired. Here we 
see why Odin, the war-god, came into being. But 
as soon as the time came when the Norseman’s 
hand ceased to be against every man, and the career 
of peace opened before him, Odin’s doom was 
sealed, and he was obliged to retire to the limbo of 
useless gods. 


1 88 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

ODIN’S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 

I N folk-stories Odin, or Wode the Old, appears on 
horseback, and in the ancient mythology of the 
North his eight-legged steed, Sleipnir, plays an im- 
portant part. The story of the birth of Sleipnir is 
one of those pleasing nature-myths which can be 
directly traced to the influence of light and heat on 
the hard frozen ground. In Grimni’s “ Lay of the 
Elder Edda ” we are told that 

The ash Yggdrasill 
Is the first of trees, 

As Skidbladnir of ships, 

Odin of yEsir, 

Sleipnir of steeds, 

Bifrost of bridges, 

Bragi of bards, 

Habrok of hawks, 

And Garm of hounds is. 

Sleipnir is generally described as possessing eight 
legs, but in some of the old writings he is men- 
tioned as having but four. The extra legs were 
given him to increase his speed, or as a figure of 
speech to denote his marvelous swiftness. He has 
been called the Northern Pegasus, but it would be 
difficult to put his eight legs with good effect into 
a picture or a statue ; therefore he will hardly com- 


ODIN'S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 1 89 

pare with the beautiful winged steed of the Muses. 
His white color probably refers to the clear bright 
sky through which he fleets in the form of wind. 
On his teeth and rein are inscribed Runes to indi- 
cate his sagacity and the magic power which at- 
taches to him as the horse of Allfather. 

Men saw every-where conflicting and hostile in- 
fluences in nature, and they called them jotuns, or 
giants ; for they were led to believe that behind 
every appearance some power existed to which they 
could give the human form. To them the world 
looked like a scene, shifted by an invisible hand ; 
and this machinery of nature was moved either by 
the good JEsir or the evil giants. The jotuns were 
celebrated architects and builders. They had no 
power to create life, to make a blade of grass sprout, 
or a leaf-bud open, or a flower unfold ; but they 
could bridge streams and fill valleys and encase 
the mountains by heaping up great masses of ice 
and snow. 

It is curious to note in the popular stories that, 
although after the introduction of Christianity the 
giants are transformed into demons, they still retain 
their skill in building. St. Olaf received the attri- 
butes of the god Thor, who was very dear to the 
hearts of the people. There are several legends 
connected with St. Olaf based on this myth of the 
birth of Sleipnir. 

Once upon a time, when the gods were building 
their heavenly mansions, and had already finished 
Midgard, (middle-world) and Valhalla, (the heaven 
of the slain,) a certain architect came and offered to 


I90 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

build them, in the space of three half years, a cas- 
tle so well fortified that it would be perfectly secure 
against the incursions of frost and mountain giants, 
even though they were to invade Midgard. But the 
price he asked for his work was Freyja, the beauti- 
ful goddess of love, the productive principle, together 
with the sun and moon. 

After taking council together and deliberating a 
long time, the gods finally agreed to his terms, pro- 
vided he would complete the work himself, and do 
it all in a single winter ; but if any thing remained 
unfinished on the first day of summer, he was to 
forfeit the stipulated pay. On learning these terms 
the builder asked to be allowed the use of his good 
horse Svadilfari. This condition was at last agreed 
to on the advice of Loki, the fire-god and evil genius 
of heaven. 

The builder set busily to work on the first day of 
winter, and in the night made his horse Svadilfari 
draw stone for the building. The enormous size of 
the blocks which the horse drew astonished the 
gods, and they awoke in dismay to the fact that 
Svadilfari did a half more of the labor than his 
master. Their bargain had been made in the 
presence of many witnesses, and confirmed by 
solemn oaths; for without these precautions a giant 
would not have thought himself safe among the 
gods. 

You have guessed that the pretended builder was 
only one of the jotuns who had stolen into heaven 
in disguise. At this moment Thor happened to be 
absent on an expedition to the East against evil 


ODIN’S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 191 

demons. Thor was the defender of Asgard and the 
great enemy of the giants. He assailed them with 
his thunder-hammer and broke them in pieces. 
The giant builder was very careful in exacting oaths 
on this occasion, for he knew when Thor returned 
he would be in great danger. The building was far 
advanced, and the bulwarks were thick and high 
enough to render it secure from attack, when but 
three days of winter remained. The only unfinished 
part was the gateway of the castle. Then, in dis- 
may, the gods sat down on their doom-seats to in- 
quire who among them could have done so fatal a 
thing as to advise them to give away Freyja, their 
joy and delight, or to plunge the heavens into dark- 
ness by allowing the sun and moon to be carried 
off. It was agreed by all that only Loki, the son 
of Laufey, and the deviser of so many evil things, 
could have given this disastrous council. 

The gods decided that Loki should be put to a 
cruel death if he did not devise some means to cheat 
the builder and prevent him from finishing his task 
within the alloted time. They immediately laid 
hands on Loki, who, in his terror, promised upon 
oath that, cost what it might, he would contrive to 
make the giant lose his reward. That night, when 
the builder went with his nag Svadilfari for build- 
ing-stone, a mare suddenly ran out of a forest near 
by and began to neigh. The horse heard the sound 
and instantly broke loose from his burden and ran 
away after it with might and main. The giant then 
ran away after his horse as fast as his legs could 
carry him, so that the whole night was lost, and in 


192 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the morning the building had not made its usual 
progress. 

As the builder had lost his horse he now appeared 
in his own mighty form, and the gods clearly per- 
ceived that he was a malignant mountain giant who 
had stolen into heaven on false pretenses. As their 
oaths no longer bound them, they called loudly on 
Thor, who ran to their aid, and, lifting up his huge 
hammer, Mjolnir, paid the builder his wages by 
shattering his skull in pieces. He then hurled his 
body headlong into Niflheim, the lower world. 
Thus the gods saved their beloved Freyja and the 
sun and moon, but, strange to say, Loki, after his 
night’s adventure, gave birth to a gray or white colt 
with eight legs. This is Odin’s horse Sleipnir, 
which excels all other horses ever owned by gods 
or men. 

The explanation of this myth is very pretty and 
pleasing. It may be called a mother myth, for it 
has given rise to many others of the same kind, 
which retain the outlines of the story under a Chris- 
tian dress. Loki, who is only fire or heat personi- 
fied, when summer is over desires to rest. He has 
been the active principle all through the warm 
months, and has worked hard. He, therefore, in- 
duces the gods to allow the strange builder, who is 
old Winter disguised, to build a castle in heaven. 
The work is performed chiefly in the night, for then 
the cold is very severe, and the ice thickens into 
great blocks. Svadilfari, the horse, is nothing more 
than extreme cold, or perhaps a bitter cold blast like 
the north-east wind. 


ODIN’S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 193 

Now, while the work was going on the gods saw 
that if the giant was permitted to finish it and com- 
pletely wall up heaven with snow and ice, the beauty 
of life, personified by the goddess Freyja, would es- 
cape from them, and the sun and moon would be 
eternally eclipsed by winter’s snow and fog. Now 
Loki — fire, heat — in the early spring began to act 
on extreme cold, or Svadilfari, the builder’s useful 
horse : and the mild wind sprang up or was born of 
Loki. This wind is Odin’s horse Sleipnir. We 
know that certain winds are powerful agents in 
melting ice and snow. Odin, who is the sky-god, 
mounted this swift colt, and used it for traversing 
land and sea. The destruction of the giant was left 
to Thor, the thunder-god, who, with his warm elec- 
tric showers, does effectual work in demolishing 
the vast icebergs and glaciers and snow-fields of the 
North. 

The intense longing of the giants for Freyja, 
the goddess of love and the productive power of 
nature, is expressed in several beautiful myths, and 
is an exquisitely poetical idea. The high, frozen 
mountain tops are barren, cold, and devoid of 
life. They yearn for the beautiful goddess to clothe 
them with verdure, and make their rocky, ice- 
clad slopes bloom in loveliness. Their desire to 
steal Freyja from heaven has, therefore, a certain 
pathos. 

The gods sometimes fall into the traps set for 
them by the giants. Loki alone can outwit these 
monstrous beings. Even Allfather is less subtle and 
penetrating than the fire-god, who creeps into all 
13 


194 TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

the pores and crevices of matter, and thus learns the 
secrets of the giant nature. 

As Sleipnir has been called the Northern Pegasus, 
on which poets mount when inspired, I will tell you 
in connection with him the singular myth about the 
origin of poetry. 

JEg ir, the sea-god, who was Well skilled in magic, 
visited Asgard, and was cordially received by the 
JEsir. Having expressed a wish to know how po- 
etry arose in the world, Bragi, the god of eloquence, 
gave him the following account of its origin : “ The 
^Esir and Vanir (sea and air gods) having met to 
put an end to the war which had long been waged 
between them, a treaty of peace was agreed upon 
and ratified by each side casting saliva into a jar ; 
and as a sign of lasting amity, to endure henceforth 
forever, they formed out of this fluid a being to 
whom they gave the name of Kvdsir, at the same 
time bestowing upon him such a high degree of in- 
telligence that no one could ask him a question that 
he was unable to answer. Kvdsir traveled far and 
wide for the benefit of mankind. 

This strange act of creation seems to hint at the 
divine power wrapped in the most worthless emana- 
tions of the gods. From the spittle of their mouths 
was made the wisest man on earth. 

The dwarfs, underground folk, were greedy for 
knowledge. Though they had command over the 
secrets of earth they coveted the wisdom of heaven. 
Therefore Kvdsir was invited to a dwarf feast, and 
two of the chief dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar, took him 
aside to talk with him in secret, and treacherously 


ODIN’S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 1 95 

slew him. They caught his blood in two vessels 
called S6n and Bodn and in the kettle called Od- 
hrcerir, and mixed honey with it, and thus com- 
posed the mead which makes every one that drinks 
of it a skald, or poet. When the gods inquired 
what had become of Kv£sir the dwarfs invented 
lies, and declared that he had been suffocated by 
his own wisdom, not being able to find any one who 
could propose a certain number of learned questions 
to save him from his fate. The divine mead, poetry, 
had fallen into the hands of low and evil beings, 
and the gods were deprived of its inspiring power. 

Now the two dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar, invited 
the giant Gilling and his wife to pay them a visit. 
They took Gilling out to sea and ran the boat on a 
rock. The boat was upset, and the giant, who 
could not swim, was drowned. The dwarfs then set 
the boat right and returned home, where they re- 
lated the accident to Gilling’s wife, who wept bitterly 
for her husband. The crafty Fjalar then asked her 
if it would soothe her sorrow to look out on the 
ocean where poor Gilling had perished. She said it 
would, and he then ordered his brother Galar to go 
up over the door and let fall a millstone on her 
head, as he could no longer endure her grief. The 
brother did as he was bid, and poor old Gilling and 
his wife were effectually disposed of by the wicked 
dwarfs. 

Now giant Gilling had a son named Suttung, who, 
when he heard of what had taken place, seized the 
crafty dwarfs, carried them out to sea, and placed 
them on a rock which, at high tide, was covered by 


196 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the waves. The wicked brothers pleaded for their 
lives, and offered to hand over to Suttung, as blood- 
fine, or atonement, the precious mead made from 
the blood of the god-born Kvdsir. The giant ac- 
cepted the offer, and took the mead home, and hid 
it in a mountain, called the Amtbiorg, under the 
care of his daughter, a giant maiden named Gunn- 
lod, or Gunnlauth. For this reason poetry is called 
Kvdsir’s blood, Suttung’s mead, the dwarfs ransom. 
This liquor of inspiration, which was of divine ori- 
gin, had by fraud been stolen and hidden from the 
gods. It could be of no benefit to mankind, for it 
had fallen into the hands of the underground peo- 
ple, for whom it was not intended, and who would 
only degrade its use. This, I think, typifies the 
low and debased condition of poetry when song is 
abused or converted into a sensual form of enjoy- 
ment, while its divine origin is forgotten. 

Now Odin was fully determined to rescue the 
poetic mead from the dwarfs and restore it to 
heaven. So he set out on a journey to Jotunheim, 
and by the way came to a meadow where nine 
thralls or slaves were mowing. The god entered 
into conversation with them, and proposed to whet 
their scythes, an offer they gladly accepted. He 
took a whet-stone from his belt, which gave such 
remarkable sharpness to the scythes that the thralls 
eagerly wished to buy it. But Odin threw it up 
into the air, and in struggling to get possession of 
the stone, each thrall contrived to bring his scythe 
to bear on his comrade’s neck, so that in the scram- 
ble they were all beheaded. 


ODIN’S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 197 

Odin slept that night at the house of Suttung’s 
brother, Baugi, also a giant, who complained that 
he was sadly in need of laborers, as nine of his 
thralls had accidentally slain each other. The god 
had disguised himself as a common man, and 
passed by the name of Bolverk. He offered to do 
Baugi’s work, and perform the labor of nine men, 
provided he got in payment a draught of Suttung’s 
famous mead. Baugi told him he had no power 
over the mead, as Suttung desired to keep it all for 
himself, but he promised to go with Odin, or Bol- 
verk, and try by some means to gain possession of 
it. On these terms Odin worked faithfully for Bau- 
gi the whole summer, performing the labor of nine 
men. This will remind you of the manner in which 
Apollo, in the Greek myth, tended the sheep of 
King Admetus. 

When winter came the disguised god appeared 
before Baugi, and demanded payment ; but the 
giant Suttung, when he was asked to part with 
a drink of his mead, refused to give a drop of the' 
precious liquor, which he kept securely hidden in a 
cavern, under the custody of the giantess, Gunnlod. 
Odin and Baugi now took counsel together, and 
determined to secure the mead by artifice. They 
therefore set to work to bore a hole through the 
rock by means of Allfather’s sharp augur, called 
Rati. Baugi bored away for some time, and when 
Odin blew into the mountain the dust rushed to- 
ward him, and he knew giant Baugi was playing 
him a trick. Again Baugi bored, and now the dust 
flew inward. Odin immediately took the form of a 


198 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

worm, and crept through the hole. Baugi, who was 
treacherous, tried to stab him with the augur, but 
missed the mark, and the god crept safely through 
to where Gunnlod, the giant maid, kept watch over 
the mead. Odin passed three days and nights with 
Gunnlod, and beguiled her into giving hfrn permis- 
sion to drink three times of the precious liquor. 
At the first draught he drained the kettle called 
Odhroerir, at the second the vessel Bodn, and at the 
third S6n, so that he had in fact swallowed all the 
mead. Then he changed himself into an eagle, and 
flew off as fast as his wings could carry him. 

But the suspicious Suttung saw the eagle’s flight, 
and he also put on his eagle’s feathers and flew 
after him so rapidly that he was only a short way 
behind. The gods on the walls of Asgard, seeing 
Odin approach with speed, and in danger of falling 
into the clutches of his enemy, hastily set out in the 
courtyard all the vessels they could lay their hands 
on. Entering in great haste, Odin discharged the 
liquor through his beak into the jars placed ready 
to hold it, but Suttung pressed him so hard that 
some of it escaped and fell on the ground, and every 
one tasted it who would. This is called the por- 
tion of the poetasters, or little would-be poets. 
Odin made a present of Suttung’s mead to the 
gods, and to all those who make an exalted use of 
the poetical art ; therefore poetry is called Odin’s 
booty, Odin’s gift, and the beverage of the gods. 

There are several interesting points to be ob- 
served in connection with this fantastic myth. The 
Norseman considered poetic inspiration, though not 


ODIN’S HORSE AND THE POETIC MEAD. 1 99 

the same, yet analogous to the exciting influence of 
fermented liquor. In the same way the Greeks 
compared it to the effect of wine, and made Diony- 
sus or Bacchus their god of the poetic art and of 
eloquence. The poetic art is the result of vivid 
emotions which stimulate the fancy. Wine and 
spiritous drinks, we well know, have the effect of 
heightening all the passions. In this alone do their 
results resemble poetical fervor. Here is the root 
of the likeness between the fermentation of must 
and wort in the vat, and what is called the frenzy 
of the poet’s brain. This is why the ancients com- 
pared the poet’s fancy, intoxicated with images of 
beauty, to the foaming mead in the drinking-horn. 

Some part of the myth relates to the way in 
which mead was fermented. The wise Kvdsir is 
only the grain from which it is made. The Vans, 
spirits of earth and air, supplied the moisture for 
his creation from rain clouds, but the gods fur- 
nished the strength and inspiring qualities of grain. 
H is blood, we are told, is the must or wort of the 
mead-vat. He died, suffocated by his own wisdom, 
because, unless he works or ferments, he is flat and 
stale. The dwarfs squeeze out his juice or blood in 
a press, and mix it with honey. Now the name of 
the giant Gilling, we are told by a learned commen- 
tator, refers to the vessel in which the beer is placed. 
His boat is upset in the great ocean, in other words 
the brewer’s vat. Old Gilling is, indeed, nothing 
but that property of beer called the barm, while his 
wife, who goes to look at the sea where her hus- 
band was drowned, and is so unlucky as to have a 


200 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

millstone drop on her head, is the malt that must 
be ground before it is fit for use. The name of the 
giant Suttung, we are told, refers to the act of 
drinking, while his daughter, Gunnlod, is the bev- 
erage itself. Odin appears here in summer as war- 
god, and causes the mowers to kill each other. He 
takes the character of a harvester, who, at the end 
of the season, wishes to enjoy the songs and mirth 
of the harvest-home. There is also a touch of the 
ancient serpent worship in the form he assumes to 
captivate Gunnlod. The power of the poetic art to 
soar, though it starts from the lowest point on earth, 
is represented by the eagle ; and there is a very 
broad, comic hint in the liquor which Odin spills 
accidentally, and which becomes the portion of lit- 
tle would-be-poets. If the poetic mead is degraded 
and misused on earth, it will return to the gods. 
It is the one art which places mankind on a level 
with the gods. The JEsir drink of the poetic mead, 
and it is the reward of all true bards, or skalds. 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 201 


CHAPTER XV. 

ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 
LLFATHER had many names, some of which 



Tl grew out of myths connected with his vari- 
ous journeys and adventures. The name Gangrad, 
which he assumed, is due to the following story, 
contained in the Eddaic poem, called Vafthrudis- 
mal, or Lay : 

Odin, one day, while sitting with his wife Frigga, 
in the high seat, informed her that he was anxious 
to visit Vafthrudnir, the wisest of the giants, for 
the purpose of trying him in argument, to find out 
which of them was best skilled in the lore of an- 
cient times. Frigga tried to induce him to give up 
the journey. She dreaded lest Vafthrudnir, so re- 
nowned for wisdom, should vanquish him in the 
contest, knowing that on Allfather depended the 
safety of both gods and men. 

But Odin soothed her mind by recalling his nu- 
merous journeys and trials of skill through which 
he had come with safety, and finally avowed his 
purpose to see the house of Vafthrudnir. Seeing 
how futile all opposition was, Frigga, like a good 
wife, consented, and wished him a happy journey 
and a safe return. 

Odin then set off and arrived at the giant’s house 


202 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

disguised as a traveler, bearing the name of Gan- 
grad. He greeted the giant politely, and told him 
the object of his visit. Vafthrudnir answered rather 
gruffly, and gave him to understand that if he failed 
in wisdom he should not escape from the hall of his 
giantship alive. Odin, undaunted, then explained 
to Vafthrudnir how, his mind athirst for knowledge 
and wisdom, he had made a long journey to his 
house, and deserved to be well received. The giant 
invited him to sit down, and they began the contest 
on condition that the one who failed should forfeit 
his head. For a long time they continued asking 
and answering questions as to the creation of the 
universe, the birth of the gods, and kindred subjects, 
until finally Gangrad asked what it was that Odin 
whispered in the ear of the dead Baldur, the beau- 
tiful god of summer, as he lay on the funeral pile. 
The giant was amazed to discover a god in his an- 
tagonist, and exclaimed : 

“ No one knows what thou, in the beginning of 
time, didst whisper to thy son. With death on my 
lips have I interpreted the wisdom of old and the 
fate of the gods ; with Odin have I contended, with 
the wise speaker ; ever art thou wisest of all ! ” 

This, I apprehend, is only another form of the 
old light-myth — the heavenly god contending with 
cold and darkness, and wresting from them their 
secrets. It is summer struggling with winter — a 
contest that Frigga, the earth-goddess, awaits with 
trembling anxiety, as her fate depends on the chance 
of Odin’s success. If Vafthrudnir wins, the ground 
will be eternally sealed with frost, and she can no 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 203 

more bring forth. Odin, as mind-father, inquires 
every-where for wisdom. His activity is unceas- 
ing, and in perfect accord with the restless Norse 
nature. Though supreme god he questions all 
parts of the universe, just as the light rays pierce 
at last all clouds, and penetrate the most hidden 
things. 

In another myth Odin takes the name of Grimnir. 
This is the argument of the famous Grimnis Lay. 
King Hraudung had two sons, named Agnar and 
Geirrod. Agnar was ten and Geirrod eight years 
old. These boys once rowed out in a boat to catch 
small fish with hook and line, but the wind drove 
them out to sea. During the darkness of the night 
they were wrecked on the sea-coast, and wandered 
along the shore until they found a small farmer, 
who took them in, and with whom they spent the 
winter. The farmer’s wife brought up little Agnar, 
but the farmer devoted himself to the training of 
Geirrod, and gave him much good advice. 

In the spring the farmer fitted them out with a 
vessel, and he and his wife went down to the shore 
to see them off. The farmer, taking Geirrod aside, 
talked with him long and earnestly. A fresh wind 
soon sprang up, and the boys were carried to their 
home. Geirrod sprang out of the boat first, and 
then pushed it, containing his brother, out to sea, 
and crying out, “ Go from this place into the 
power of evil spirits.” He then went home to his 
father’s hall, where he received a warm welcome, 
and, his father having died, he was made king of 
that country. 


204 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Now the farmer and his wife who had fostered 
these boys were none other than sky-god Odin, and 
earth-goddess Frigga. One day, when Allfather 
and his wife were sitting in Hildskjalf, the high-seat 
of the universe, which commanded a view of the 
whole world, Odin said, “ Frigga, do you see your 
foster-son, Agnar, how he passes his time dallying 
with a giantess in a cave, while Geirrod, my foster- 
son, is a king, ruling over the land ? ” 

Frigga was nettled by this remark, and replied 
sharply that Geirrod was very inhospitable, and tor- 
tured his guests when he thought them too numer- 
ous. Odin stoutly denied the charge, and said it 
was a bold falsehood. After contending a little, 
Allfather and his wife laid a wager, and the god re- 
solved to pay a visit to Geirrod. 

Now Frigga set her wits at work, determined to 
win the wager. She, therefore, sent her confiden- 
tial handmaid, named Fulla, to Geirrod, to advise 
him to be on his guard against a celebrated wizard 
who had arrived in that country, lest he should 
cause his destruction. As a sign whereby Geirrod 
might know him, she imparted the fact that no dog 
would lay hold of him. 

It was not true that King Geirrod was inhospi- 
table, but when this message was brought to him he 
caused the man to be seized whom the dogs would 
not attack. He was a venerable old person, clad in 
gray fur, and called himself Grimnir, but he refused 
to give any account of himself, the country whence 
he had come, or why he was journeying in Geirrod’s 
land. To extort a confession the king had the old 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 205 

man tortured, by placing him between two hot fires, 
where he sat for eight days. 

King Geirrod had a son, ten years of age, named 
Agnar, after his uncle. This boy went to Grimnir, 
the disguised Odin, and gave him a cup or horn 
filled with drink. He said his father had acted 
cruelly in causing an innocent person to be put to 
the torture. The fire had by this time approached 
so near that Grimnir’s fur coat was singed. While 
enduring the heat he sang a mythological song, in 
which he describes the mansions of the twelve chief 
gods. When King Geirrod discovered that he was 
roasting the god Odin, he was sitting with his sword 
across his knees. It was the custom with Northern 
kings, the sword being the symbol of authority. He 
rose in haste to release Allfather from the fire, when 
his sword slipped from his hand, and in endeavor- 
ing to recover it he fell forward and was pierced 
through the body. Odin then disappeared, and 
young Agnar reigned in his father’s stead. 

That this is a nature-myth is indicated by the 
contention between Odin and Frigga, the sky and 
earth, over their foster-children. The fires between 
which Odin is placed may have some reference to 
the intense heats of a dry summer that singe the 
fur of his coat ; or, in other words, burn away the 
clouds. It is after the visit of Fulla, the goddess 
of the ripe grain fields, that the fires spring up, in 
accordance with the custom of the North, when, 
after the ingathering of the harvest, large fires are 
kindled to clear the land of stubble and debris. 
Geirrod, who falls upon his sword and is slain, may 


206 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

have some reference to the cutting of grain by the 
sickle. The young Agnar is perhaps the gentle 
autumn rain, who brings refreshment and coolness, 
represented by the horn of drink which he gives to 
Odin. 

The next myth which I shall relate is much easier 
to understand. Odin, as the sky, always woos and 
weds some form of the earth. Though he has sev- 
eral wives, they are personifications of the same 
principle under different aspects. We have seen 
how he wooed Gunnlod, the mountain giantess, who 
is the hidden principle of growth under-ground — 
perhaps, as her name would indicate, the sap and 
juices of plants. Another of his wives, the mother 
of Thor, is called Hlodyn. She is nothing but the 
warm earth prepared to bring forth vegetation. 
Thunder is heard rumbling in the sky after the 
spring heats have mellowed the ground, and, for 
this reason, Hlodyn becomes the mother of Thor. 
This goddess was known to the ancient Germans, 
as her name occurs in a very old manuscript. Of 
Frigga, Odin’s chief wife, I shall give you a more 
particular account when I come to the goddesses. 

Allfather particularly wished to connect himself 
with the beautiful, hard-hearted Rinda; for it had 
been foretold that by Rinda, the daughter of the 
king of the Rutheni, he would have a son who 
would revenge the death of the beloved Baldur. 
He therefore concealed his face with his hat and 
entering the service of the Rutheni, was appointed 
general of the army, and gained a great victory. 
Shortly after, single-handed, he put to flight the ene- 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 20 7 

mies of the Rutheni with great slaughter. Trust- 
ing to his military renown he now visited the scornful 
Rinda, and asked her to give him a kiss, in place of 
which he received a blow. 

But he could not be turned from his purpose of 
making her his wife. The next year he disguised 
himself as a foreigner, and under the name of Ros- 
ter the Smith visited the king, who gave him much 
gold to be made into beautiful female ornaments. 
From this gold he made an exquisite bracelet and 
some lovely rings, which he presented as love tokens 
to the cruel Rinda, who thereby was rendered only 
the more obdurate. 

Again Odin presented himself as a young and 
handsome warrior, and begged for a kiss, but Rinda 
dealt him a blow which laid him prostrate on the 
earth. He then touched her with a piece of bark 
on which certain incantations were written, which 
made Rinda frantic, and she raved in a kind of de- 
lirium. As he could assume any form he pleased, 
he now appeared in the guise of a woman, and took 
the name of Vecha, and was appointed waiting- 
maid to the Princess Rinda. Women in the North 
were the most ancient doctors. Odin put on the 
dress of a leech, and prescribed a remedy for her 
madness. Rinda is now rendered submissive by the 
arts of the god, and yields to his wooing, and in time 
becomes the mother of a glorious son, Bo, or Vali, 
the new year, who, as soon as he is born, avenges 
the death of Baldur. 

Now the hard-hearted Rinda is, in fact, only the 
rind or frozen crust of the earth in the cold North, 


208 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

which refuses, except after repeated efforts, to yield 
to the solicitations of the sun, and bring forth 
flowers and herbage. The four labors of Odin in 
his struggle to win the princess have been thought 
to refer to the four seasons, during three of which 
she repulses him when he comes and asks for a kiss ; 
but they more probably refer to the changes of a 
severe winter in its progress toward spring, or the 
different aspects of the sky-god in his modes of 
manifestation. First, he comes as a victorious war- 
rior, with power and majesty, riding on his white 
horse, the snow-storm, and heralded by trumpet 
blast and the heavenly artillery. Then he appears 
as the splendid sun-god, and the gold ornaments he 
proffers to his lady-love are only the sunbeams. 
Then he shows himself as a handsome young war- 
rior, the all-conquering spring. The bark with its 
runes and incantations means, perhaps, the first 
flow of sap in the trees. This throws Rinda into a 
frenzy because she feels the touch of change, the 
motions of a new life in all her being. Then Odin 
presents himself as a leech and administers a potion. 
Rinda is again bound, but in new bonds. She is 
drugged and drowsy with the languors of spring 
and the mystery of growth. Released from the fet- 
ters of death, she becomes the great mother, or 
renewer of life, and her son Vali leaps joyfully into 
existence. There are few myths so beautiful and 
suggestive as the wooing of Rinda. It is one of the 
best examples of a pure nature-myth in existence. 

One day Odin disguised himself as the ferryman 
Harbard, and took up his position on the bank of a 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA'S APPLES. 20g 

river. Presently the god Thor came along with his 
big hammer, and requested the ferryman to put him 
over the stream. This request Odin positively re- 
fused, and thereupon the two gods began to narrate 
their adventures and boast of their exploits. It is 
a wordy contest between Courage and Strength, and 
the river between them implies, perhaps, their con- 
trasted characters and the different nature of their 
deeds and aims. While poor old Thor is incessantly 
fighting jotuns, pounding and smashing terribly, in 
order to defend heaven and earth from attack, Har- 
bard, the disguised Odin, is working on the minds 
of kings to incite them to war, bestirring himself on 
the battle-field, slaying warriors, or journeying gayly 
in disguise, when he diverts himself by kissing 
maidens. Thor bears the brunt of things, and is 
always the endurer ; but Odin is the resplendent 
god of courage, who wins the praises of the world. 

There is a beautiful myth which I will introduce 
here, although it properly belongs to the cycle of 
Loki. It is the story of Iduna and her apples. The 
apple is a sacred fruit in many mythologies. It 
plays an important part in the Greek system, and is 
not wanting, as we shall see, to the Norse. 

JEgir, the sea-god, who was a great magician — 
because he had power over all the wonder-working 
changes of water — went one day to pay a friendly 
visit to Asgard. He was welcomed warmly, and 
when supper-time came the twelve mighty iEsir, or 
gods, seated themselves on their lofty seats, in a 
hall hung with swords of such surpassing brilliancy 
that no other light was required. These twelve gods 
14 


210 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

were named Odin, Thor, Njord, Frey, Tyr, Heim- 
dall, Bragi, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, Hcenir, and Forseti. 
There were also nine Asynjur, or goddesses, pres- 
ent, called Frigga, Freyja, Gefjon, Iduna, Gerda, 
Siguna, Fulla, and Nanna. They sat a long time at 
table, drinking excellent mead from large golden 
horns of beautiful workmanship. JEgir sat next to 
Bragi, the god of poetry and eloquence ; and he re- 
quested him to relate something concerning the 
gods, with which he immediately complied by nar- 
rating the following myth : 

“ Once when Odin, Loki, and Hcenir were jour- 
neying together, they came to a peaceful valley 
where a herd of oxen was grazing. Hungry and 
destitute of food, as they were, they did not scruple 
to slaughter one of the animals for supper. Their 
efforts to boil the flesh, however, were vain. Every 
time they took off the lid of the pot they found it 
just as raw as before; and, while trying to account 
for this singular fact, a voice was heard, which ap- 
peared to come from over their heads. On looking 
up, they saw a very large eagle perched in the 
branches of an oak tree. ‘ If you will give me a full 
meal/ said the eagle, ‘your meat shall soon be 
cooked.’ They agreed to the proposal, and the 
eagle flew down from the tree and snatched, for his 
share of the boiled ox, a leg and both shoulders. 
This exhibition of greed filled Loki with disgust. 
He picked up a huge pole and began to belabor the 
eagle about the back. 

“ But it happened that Loki did not strike a real 
eagle, but the famous giant Thjassi, who had flown 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 21 1 

abroad in his eagle plumage. Marvelous to relate, 
one end of the pole stuck fast to the eagle, while the 
other clung to Loki, and would not permit him to 
release his hold. Consequently, when the eagle flew 
away Loki was dragged and trailed over rocks and 
stones and woods and mountains, until he was half 
dead. He screamed and howled and begged for 
mercy ; but the giant gave him to understand that 
he should never be released from the pole until he 
had sworn to bring Iduna and her apples out of 
Asgard to Jotunheim. 

“ Loki gave the promise readily enough, and went 
back to his companions in a sorry plight. Now, it 
happened that only by the constant eating of Idu- 
na’s apples could the gods preserve their youth. 
She kept this immortal fruit in a jar, or casket, of 
which she had the sole charge. 

“ On his return to Asgard Loki began to cajole 
Iduna with his wily tongue. He told her that in a 
forest, a short distance from her heavenly mansion, 
he had found apples growing which he thought 
were of a quality superior to her own. At any rate, 
it was worth her while to make comparison between 
them. 

“ Iduna, deceived by his words, took her jar of 
apples and went with him into the forest, which 
they had no sooner entered than Thjassi, clad in 
his eagle feathers, swooped down upon the poor, 
foolish goddess, and carried her and her apples off 
in his claws to Jotunheim. 

“ The gods, deprived of their immortal sustenance, 
soon began to look wrinkled and gray. Old age 


212 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

was stealing on them rapidly, and they sat down 
upon their doom-seats and took counsel together, 
inquiring who had last seen Iduna. When it was 
discovered that she had gone out of Asgard with 
Loki he was seized and brought into the doom-ring, 
and threatened with a terrible death if he did not 
at once bring Iduna back from Jotunheim. Cowed 
and frightened by their threats, he promised to re- 
store her, provided Freyja, the goddess of love, 
would lend him her falcon dress. 

“ Having put on Freyja’s feathers, he flew north 
into Jotunheim. Thjassi happened to be out at 
sea fishing, and Loki lost no time in changing 
Iduna, one account says into a sparrow, another 
into a nut, and flying off with her toward Asgard. 
As soon as Thjassi returned he missed the goddess, 
and, putting on his eagle plumage, set off in pur- 
suit. The gods, seeing the falcon with a sparrow 
in his talons, pursued by an eagle, just ready to cap- 
ture him, placed bundles of chips on the walls of 
Asgard, and, waiting until Loki glided in, set fire to 
them. Thjassi could not stay his flight ; the fire 
singed his wings, and he fell in the midst of the 
gods, who put an end to him inside of Asgard.” 

Thjassi, from his name, we know to mean the 
strong, boisterous, blustering wind of fall and win- 
ter, which sometimes spreads fire through the dry 
forest, as Loki, the fire-god, was dragged at the end 
of a pole. The hissing and crackling of the flames 
are represented by Loki’s howls of pain. In the 
character of winter old Thjassi obtains possession 
of the goddess of youth and spring, who hides the 


ODIN’S ADVENTURES AND IDUNA’S APPLES. 213 

secret of immortality in her vase of apples. But 
when the warmth of summer approaches in the 
form of Loki, the giant cannot hold her captive, 
and is obliged to let her return to Asgard. The 
gods kindle fires on the walls, symbolic of spring’s 
approach, and the winter-god singes his feathers — 
indicative of the melting of snow and ice — and falls 
down to his destruction. The picture of the gods 
growing gray and wrinkled because the secret of life 
has been withdrawn is very striking and beautiful, 
and we again see the longing of the barren giants 
for light and beauty and immortality. In myths of 
this nature we perceive how subtle, tender, and 
profound was the genius of the great Northern 
skalds. 


214 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF HIS HAMMER. 
HERE was a sect of courage-worshipers and a 



A- sect of strength-worshipers in the North. 
Odin, the courage-god, was every-where acknowl- 
edged as Allfather ; but Thor, the strength-god, had 
a great number of followers, who practically elevated 
him to the place of supreme deity. 

In Norway and Iceland Thor was fondly called 
the beloved deity, the almighty god. He may be 
called the democratic god, the god of the common 
people. Thralls and bondsmen and peasants and 
laborers and all poor and weak persons belonged to 
Thor. They looked up to him in childlike confi- 
dence, sure that he would protect them against the 
evil trolls and jotuns who inhabited dark forests 
and rugged mountains. They relied with perfect 
faith on his vast strength and his good-will. Thor 
was the highest idea existing among them of hu- 
manity and self-sacrifice. He toiled ceaselessly, day 
and night, to render heaven and earth secure from 
incursion. Little rest or pleasure had Thor, the 
great endurer, the one living bulwark of organic life 
against cold, darkness, and chaos. 

Thor was the favorite of the most powerful Scan- 
dinavian race, and, as a person, was of equal impor- 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF HIS HAMMER. 21 5 

tance with Odin ; but the chief article in the Norse- 
man’s creed, faith in the sacred character of warfare 
and the rewards of Valhalla, were derived from 
Odin. Thor was a great nature-god, whose name 
simply means thunder. He did not come into be- 
ing until after the world was made. Odin was the 
creator, and his son Thor was born to be the pro- 
tector of the universe. He ruled over a realm 
called Thrudvang, or Thrudheim, the gloom of 
clouds ; in other words, the dense, dark thunder- 
cloud. His mother was called Fiorgyn, or Hlodyn. 
She was an earth-goddess, whose name, probably, 
refers to a mountainous tract of country, because 
the fiercest thunder-storms are born in high regions. 
She is also said to mean the warm or mellow 
earth. 

Thor is called Asa Thor (god Thor) and also Aku 
Thor, (car Thor,) because he sometimes drives in a 
chariot drawn by two he-goats called Tanngnjost 
and Tanngrisnir. Both these names refer to the 
reverberations and hollow sounds of thunder, as it 
rolls and roars among the hills. The goat may have 
been chosen as Thor’s symbol because it loves high 
places.* Its quick leaps from crag to crag probably 
suggested to the poet’s mind the darting flame of 
the lightning. The bleating of the goats and the 
rattling of Thor’s chariot-wheels were symbolic of 
the rolling and crashing of the thunderbolt. One 
aspect of Thor’s nature is terrifying and fraught 
with dreadful energy, like the deadly stroke of the 
lightning; the other is frank, good-humored, and 
cheery, like the sun when it suddenly breaks 


216 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

through the black thunder-cloud and scatters its 
splendid rays over the wet grass and flowers, filling 
earth and sky with gleams of beauty. 

Thor lived in a sky-mansion called Bilskirnir, 
which means bright and glittering, like those pal- 
aces which the lightning-flash appears to reveal in 
the clouds on a summer evening. It is the largest 
house in the world, and has five hundred and forty 
halls. We can easily believe this, for it is nothing 
less than the vast expanse of heaven over our heads. 
In Grimnis Lay Odin thus describes Thor’s house : 

Five hundred halls 
And forty more, 

Methinks, hath 
Bowed Bilskirnir. 

Of houses roofed 
There’s none I know 
My son’s surpassing. 

The idea of a sky-house is well-expressed in 
“ bowed ” or curved Bilskirnir. The masses of 
cloud, lying in strata, well express the stories or 
floors of Thor’s wonderful house. 

Thor is sometimes described as a hoary old man ; 
but the common idea of him is that of a young 
man, slender and agile, with a red beard, and a 
crown of twelve stars on his head. The red beard 
is very poetical, for it means the ruddy flame of 
lightning. When Thor gets angry he blows in his 
red beard, and thunder is heard muttering among 
the mountains. Many of the attributes of Thor 
were given to Olaf, the beloved saint of the North, 
in order to attach the ardent followers of the old 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF HIS HAMMER. 217 

god to the new faith. Olaf had a red beard like 
Thor, and was thought to possess power over evil 
jotuns. 

Now Thor had three very precious things, upon 
which much of his strength depended. The first 
was a dwarf-made hammer, called Mjolnir, which 
the frost and mountain giants dreaded above all 
things, because many of them had felt the weight 
of its blows descending upon their heads. The 
second precious thing was the belt of strength, 
Meging-jardir. When he girds himself with it his 
divine might is doubled. The third rare possession 
is a pair of iron gauntlets, which he is obliged to 
wear when he would grasp the handle of the ham- 
mer or mallet. Mjolnir, which means the crusher 
or bruiser, is, as you have already guessed, nothing 
but the red-hot thunder-bolt. With this Thor 
fights all the evil and destructive influences of na- 
ture, known as wicked jotuns, or trolls. These, as 
I have told you, are darkness, cold, and the un- 
fruitfulness which lurks in mountains and deserts. 
Thor, with his roaring torrents, melts the ice and 
snow, changes the face of the land, and prepares it 
for agriculture. . He is neither the light, nor the 
warmth, nor the summer, but he accompanies all 
these, and as soon as the warm season is over, and 
Thor goes away to the East to fight with evil demons, 
Asgard and Midgard are besieged by giants. Thor 
must come running back and smash them with his 
hammer, or all will be lost. 

Thor is an impetuous, ever-restless god, and for 
this reason dear to the energetic soul of the North. 


21 8 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


He moves with great strides, like the tempest, over 
sea and land, and cannot keep still for a moment, 
even when the other gods are feasting in gods’ 
world. As a spiritual god, he contends ceaselessly 
with every form of evil, which is symbolized by the 
malignant disposition of the jotuns. These wicked 
beings are ever plotting and planning to blot out 
the sun, and wall up heaven, and to prevent the 
earth from bringing forth in due season ; but Thor, 
the great preserver, is stronger than they are. He 
defends the sun, and keeps heaven open to the 
light, and brings in the spring-time with songs and 
flowers. The Northern winter is long and en- 
croaching. It steals, with its frosts, even into the 
brief summer-time, and gave birth to the jotuns, 
and also to their great enemy, Thor, who was made 
expressly to fight them. Every-where the Norse- 
man saw signs of conflict and contention, and the 
terrible life-and-death fight of the elements are 
stamped deep into the nature of his gods. Thor 
was movement and life, the jotuns were silence and 
death. The stormy Thor was hailed as a deliverer, 
when he came with his trumpet peals to summon 
the ice-mountains and snow-fields to battle. 

The hammer was Thor’s great symbol, and he 
was the god of the laborer who uses the hammer 
in his daily toil. Odin was an aristocratic god. 
To him were given the jarls, or nobles, but the 
thralls and common people fell to Thor’s share. 
Bondsmen after death were consigned to the thun- 
der-god. This, it is thought, expresses the idea 
that their souls were too heavy to mount up to 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF HIS HAMMER. 219 

Odin’s heaven with the free born, and were com- 
pelled to -linger half way in the floating clouds of 
the thunder-storm. 

Thor had two sons, Magni, the strong, and Modi, 
the courageous, and his wife is Sif, an earth-god- 
dess, who clothes mountain slopes and all wild, un- 
cultivated places with grass. For this reason she 
is celebrated for her beautiful hair, which is only 
the luxuriant herbage of the spring. By Sif Thor 
had a daughter, named Thrud, who is some form 
assumed by the summer clouds. She was carried 
off by the great stone-giant, Hrungnir, who is noth- 
ing more than a vast rocky mountain, with power 
to draw the summer clouds about his sky-piercing 
top. You will see that Thor was a nature-god, left 
almost unchanged by the change in religious ideas. 
For this reason he was easier to comprehend than 
the more complex Odin, and drew the love of his 
worshipers more powerfully than Allfather. He 
has been called the Northern Herakles, and in some 
of his attributes does resemble that god, who, we 
now know, was only the sun passing through the 
twelve signs of the zodiac in the performance of 
his twelve great labors. Both of them were mighty 
workers for the good of others, and were looked up 
to as the protectors of gods and men. It is curious 
to note, in these Northern myths, how, as soon as 
heaven is attacked, the JEsir cry lustily for Thor, 
who comes running to their defense. 

In a barbaric state men have always worshiped 
force ; first, as it manifests itself in nature, and later, 
as it is shown in conflicts between tribes and races. 


220 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

The strong chief must get control over several 
weaker ones, who are mere robbers and bandits, by 
prowess and superior fighting methods, before any 
thing like government can be organized. In the 
same way wild nature must be conquered by forces 
superior to itself before man can live by the earth. 
Thor is the conqueror and civilizer of nature, and 
after him comes the farmer, the shepherd, the herds- 
man, who could not exist unless the strong god had 
prepared the way. The jotun is the greedy spirit, 
who tries to eat up the domain Thor has rescued 
from death, and would succeed if the deity did not 
continually pound him with his hammer. The idea 
of greed clings to the giants in all the popular sto- 
ries. They continually appear at feasts and merry- 
makings, and devour the supper prepared for the 
guests. 

The sign of the hammer was sacred in Norway 
and Iceland. It was used as good Catholics use 
the sign of the cross, and some say it was cross- 
shaped. At feasts the drinking-horn was conse- 
crated with this sign, and it seems probable that it 
was employed in marriage ceremonies. We know 
it was used at funerals, for the god himself hal- 
lowed Baldur’s funeral pile by laying his hammer 
upon it. It was used as a protection against jo- 
tuns to prevent them from injuring the bride or 
disturbing the peace of the dead. In many folk- 
stories we find the trolls eager to carry off brides, 
which sometimes, unless great care is used, they 
contrive to do. This probably dates back to the 
ardent longing of the jotuns for the goddess Freyja, 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF HIS HAMMER. 221 

whom they more than once try to carry away from 
heaven. The bride, who was under Freyja’s spe- 
cial protection, was therefore thought to be in 
danger. 

I will now tell you the story of Sif’s hair and 
Odin’s hammer: One day Loki, out of pure mis- 
chief, cut off all of Sif’s beautiful hair. When her 
husband, Thor, heard of it he was very angry, and 
.vowed he would break every bone in the fire-god’s 
impish body if he did not get the svart elves (elves 
of darkness) to make her a head of hair of pure 
gold, which should grow on her head like nat- 
ural locks. Loki, therefore, resorted in haste to 
the house of the dwarfs, sons of Ivald, and they 
made for him a new head of golden hair, and the 
famous ship Skidbladnir, which belongs to Frey, and 
Odin’s spear, called Gungnir. Then Loki, who was 
full of craft and invention, wagered his head with 
the dwarf, Brok, that his brother Sindri could not 
make three other such precious things as he had 
already produced. 

The brothers went to the smithy, deep-hidden in 
the earth, and Sindri laid a swine’s skin on the fire 
and directed Brok to blow the bellows until he took 
it from the furnace. Sindri then went out and left 
Brok blowing with might and main, and there came 
a gadfly, which was no other than the evil Loki, 
and settled on his hand and stung it. Brok, in 
spite of the pain, continued to blow sturdily until 
his brother returned and took what was forged from 
the fire. It proved to be a swine with golden bris- 
tles. 


222 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Sindri again put gold into the furnace, and told 
his brother Brok to blow without ceasing until he 
returned, and again he went out. This time the 
malicious gadfly came and fastened itself on Brok’s 
neck, and stung twice as fiercely as before. But 
Brok stood bravely to his post, and continued blow- 
ing until the smith came back, and took from the 
fire Odin’s gold ring, called Draupnir, (to drop.) 
The third time Sindri put iron into the furnace, and 
exhorted his brother to blow without ceasing, or all 
would be lost. Now the wicked gadfly came, and 
lit between Brok’s eyes, and stung his eyelids, and 
the blood ran down into his eyes so that he could 
not see, and for one moment poor Brok let go the 
bellows to drive away the fly. At this instant the 
smith Sindri returned, and said that what the fur- 
nace contained was nearly spoiled. On drawing it 
forth it proved to be a hammer. 

Sindri gave these three treasures to his brother, 
and bade him go to Asgard, to the council of the 
gods, and bring back the wager. So Loki and 
Brokri came, each with three wonderful works, and 
stood before the gods, where they sat on their doom- 
seats, and it was agreed by both sides that whatever 
Odin, Thor, and Frey, the three highest gods, ad- 
judged, should hold fast. Then Loki made a pres- 
ent to Odin of the spear that never could miss its 
mark; to Thor he gave the golden hair that imme- 
diately grew fast on Sif’s head ; and to Frey he pre- 
sented the life-ship, Skidbladnir, which, as soon as 
the sails were set, always found a fair wind, no mat- 
ter in what direction the captain might be going. 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF HIS HAMMER. 223 

It was the most convenient ship in the world, for it 
could be folded small like a napkin, and carried in 
the pocket. 

Of course these presents excited wonder and ad- 
miration among the gods, but now the dwarf Brok 
stepped forth with his wonderful handiwork. To 
Odin he gave the ring, Draupnir, saying that every 
ninth night eight rings equally precious would drop 
from it. To Frey he gave the golden boar, say- 
ing that it could run more swiftly than any horse 
through the air and the sea, and in the darkest 
night a brilliant light would shine from its bristles. 
The mighty hammer he bestowed upon Thor, de- 
claring that he might strike any object with it as 
powerfully as he chose, and it would never fail to 
do execution. If he threw it, no matter how far, 
he need not fear, for it would always return to his 
hand, and at a wish it would become so small that 
he could hide it in his bosom. It had but one de- 
fect, the handle or haft was rather short. This was 
occasioned by the wicked gadfly, who had disturbed 
the smith at his labors. 

Now the gods decided that the hammer was the 
best of all the treasures, especially as a protection 
against frost-giants. It was agreed that the dwarf 
had won the wager. Brok now demanded Loki’s 
head. Loki offered a ransom for his precious head, 
but the dwarf declared he would have his head or 
nothing. Crafty Loki then cried, “ Well, take my 
head then.” The dwarf would have laid hands 
on him, but the fire-god was far away; for he had 
shoes with which he could run through earth and 


224 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

air. Brok then requested Thor to bring Loki back, 
which he did ; for the gods sacredly respected oaths 
and promises. But when Loki was produced, and 
the dwarf prepared to cut off his head, the wily 
god, who understood quibbling like a lawyer, told 
him he might have his head and welcome, but 
he must not touch his neck; that was not in the 
bargain. 

Then the dwarf took a thong and a knife and 
tried to pierce holes in his lips, in order to sew them 
up, but the knife would not cut. “ It would be 
lucky,” said the dwarf, “ if I had my brother’s awl 
and the instant he named it Sindri’s awl was at 
hand. The awl made holes in Loki’s lips, and with 
the thong, called Vartari, the dwarf sewed up Loki’s 
mouth. 

Now we see plainly that, Sif being the luxuriant 
wild grass of spring and early summer, the cutting 
of her hair by Loki means merely the withering of 
grass and herbage on plains and mountain sides by 
the intense heat of midsummer, which scorches like 
fire. Thor, the reviving thunder-storm, forces Loki 
to produce a new crop. The fire-god therefore goes 
to the underground spirits, the dwarfs, who have 
control over the hidden juices of plants, and by 
warming the earth causes the grass to again spring 
forth, which is prettily symbolized by Sif’s golden 
hair, forged by the dwarfs. The dwarfs are cun- 
ning smiths, surpassing all other artificers, because 
they have control over the metals that lie hid 
in the earth’s bosom. They forge the implements 
and ornaments of the gods with Loki’s aid, just as 


THOR AND THE FORGING OF FITS HAMMER. 225 


the under-ground Hephaestus (Vulcan) forges the 
art-works of the Greek gods. They must possess 
fire in order to carry on their labor, and hence they 
try to get control of Loki. But fire in its elemental 
form is hard to subdue. It runs over the earth 
and through the air. 

The dwarf Sindri is nothing more than the red- 
hot sparks that fly from under the hammer. Brok 
may be the wind from the bellows. The conflict 
of Loki with the smiths is, perhaps, the difficulty 
of tempering the heat, which, by its excess or defi- 
ciency, might spoil the work. 

The dwarf, when he tries to secure his wager, can- 
not vanquish Loki, he can only quell him for a time, 
therefore he sews his lips together, and puts out or 
damps down the flame, symbolized by a red-hot 
tongue. The symbols of the gods, like the spear 
Gungnir and the ring Draupnir, refer to the crea- 
tive or reproductive power of nature, and are forged 
in the darkness of the under-world, probably, to in- 
dicate the attribute of mystery. Loki comes bear- 
ing three gifts, while Brok bears other three, per- 
haps to show that in his character of fire-god half 
the work had been done by him, while the other 
half fell to the meed of skill. Thor’s hammer is 
the only imperfect thing forged, but it is the most 
valuable.* 

This may hint at the truth that though material 


* Thor’s hammer seems to hint at a very old superstition which 
attributed the stone hammers and axes of the Stone Age to the ac- 
tion of lightning. Ignorant people in many places still believe that 
these implements which they dig up are thunderbolts. 

15 


226 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

force — physical strength — can do a great deal, it al- 
ways falls short of accomplishing the best things, 
and where it fails, intellect, and the higher spiritual 
forces, come in to complete the work. 

Aside from its mythic meaning, this story has 
been the type of a great many Northern dwarf 
legends. Some of them have been partially adapt- 
ed to Christian ideas and details ; but the heathen 
outline and model can be every-where distinctly 
traced. 


SOME OF THOR’S ADVENTURES. 


227 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THOR’S ADVENTURES WITH THE METAL-KING 
AND THE STONY-HEARTED GIANT. 

NE day as Loki amused himself by flying out 



of Asgard in Frigga’s falcon plumage, he 
came to a spacious hall, the mansion of Geirrod, the 
metal-king, and, prompted by curiosity, he perched 
on the sill, and peeped in at the window. Geirrod 
having caught sight of the falcon, ordered one of 
his people to bring the bird to him, and finally, 
after some difficulty, Loki was caught and carried 
into the hall. 

As soon as the giant’s eyes fell on the falcon he 
suspected that he was a man or a god, and ordered 
him to speak ; but Loki remained silent, and the 
giant locked him up in a chest, where he fasted for 
three months. Then the giant released him, and 
again ordered him to speak. Loki was obliged to 
confess who he was, and to save his life, promised 
to bring Thor to the house of the metal-king with- 
out his hammer or belt of power. Loki went back 
to heaven, and by means of his wily tongue per- 
suaded Thor to visit the metal-king on these terms. 

On their way to Geirrod’s country Thor and Loki 
visited the hag Grid, mother of Vidar, the silent 
god. She advised Thor to be on his guard against 


228 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Geirrod, who, she said, was a crafty, dog-wise giant. 
As some protection against the artifices of the 
jotun she lent Thor a belt of power, an iron glove, 
and her staff called Gridarvold. 

The two gods continued their journey until they 
came to the River Vimur, the greatest of all rivers. 
Here Thor strapped on his belt and stayed himself 
against the stream with Grid’s staff, and began to 
wade. Loki clung to the belt behind, fearful of 
being drowned. On reaching the middle of the 
river they found it much swollen, and the water 
washed over Thor’s shoulders. He looked toward 
a part of the stream between two steep rocks, and 
perceived Gjalp, one of Geirrod’s daughters, standing 
there. It was she who had caused the river to rise, 
for she was nothing more than an impetuous mount- 
ain torrent, born in the depths of the earth. Seiz- 
ing a heavy stone he cast it at her, saying, “ The 
river must be stopped at its spring.” Then he 
waded to the shore and took hold of some sorb 
bushes and drew himself on land. There is a prov- 
erb which says, “ The sorb is Thor’s salvation.” It 
shows, what is more than once illustrated in Norse 
mythology, the importance of seeming trifles. 

When Thor and Loki had come to Geirrod’s 
house lodging was given them in a chamber where 
there was only one chair. Thor sat down and be- 
gan suddenly to rise toward the roof. Placing 
Grid s staff against the rafters, he pressed back with 
all his might, and a loud crash was heard, accom- 
panied by a terrible cry. Geirrod’s daughters, in 
their character of mountain torrents, were under 


SOME OF THOR’S ADVENTURES. 229 

the chair. They had begun to swell, and Thor, by 
pressing down upon them, had broken their backs. 
After this sad accident Geirrod invited the thun- 
der-god into his hall to play games. There were 
large fires burning along one side of the hall, from 
one of which, as Thor came opposite, Geirrod 
snatched, with a pair of tongs, a red-hot iron wedge 
and hurled it at the god. Thor caught it with his 
iron glove and cast it back. The metal-king took 
refuge behind an iron pillar, but Thor threw the 
wedge with such divine might that it passed through 
the pillar, through Geirrod, through the wall, and 
deep into the earth. 

This very interesting myth is explained by the 
strong attraction of metal for the thunder-bolt, or, 
as we say, the electric fluid. Thor’s visit to Geirrod 
is the metal mountain struck by lightning. The 
metal-king catches Loki (fire) and confines him in a 
chest for three months, during which time he fasts. 
Only in a limited capacity can fire be useful to the 
smith or metal-worker. As the intense white heat, 
giving forth no tongues of flame, it may be said to 
fast. 

Thor, the thunder-storm, comes to visit Geirrod, 
and he wades those rivers which penetrate the 
caves and fastnesses of the mountains. Owing to 
his presence the giant maidens who represent river 
nymphs in Northern mythology, swell the streams. 
Loki goes over with him, clinging to his belt, as fire 
is always latent or hidden in the thunder-cloud. 
Thor hurls his bolt, in the form of an iron bar or 
wedge, and melts old Geirrod, who is only a mass 


230 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

of metal. There is a curious superstition still to be 
met in some parts of the North, to the effect that 
a black iron bolt accompanies the lightning, which 
sinks into the earth as far as the tallest church stee- 
ple rises in the air, and comes up a certain distance 
toward the surface every time it thunders, until, at 
the end of seven years, it works its way out of the 
ground. Every house, it is believed, in which such 
a bolt is kept is secure from the effects of lightning. 

I will now tell you the curious myth of Thor and 
Hrungnir, the stony-hearted giant. One day Thor 
had journeyed eastward to crush trolls, (giants ;) 
but Odin rode on his horse Sleipnir to Jotunheim, 
(giants’ world,) and came to Hrungnir’s house. The 
giant met him at the door and inquired who it was 
who rode with glittering helmet through air and 
water, and then complimented him on the excellence 
of his horse. Odin replied boastfully that he would 
pledge his head that so good a horse could not be 
found in Jotunheim. Hrungnir replied that it was, 
indeed, a very good horse, but that he owned one 
called Goldfax (gold mane.) which could take much 
longer paces, and was in every way superior, where- 
upon he immediately leaped upon his nag and 
spurred after Odin in order to pay him for his pre- 
sumptuous words. 

Odin galloped at full speed, but Hrungnir’s giant 
nature became excited by the chase, and his horse 
acquired such velocity that, before he was aware of 
it, he had been carried within the walls of Asgard. 
On reaching the door of Valhalla the gods, who 
were always hospitable and polite, invited him to 


SOME OF THOR’S ADVENTURES. 231 

come in and drink, and set before him the huge 
horns or flagons from which Odin was accustomed 
to drain his mead. The giant emptied each at a 
draught, and soon became intoxicated, when he 
grew very loud in his boastings, and threatened to 
pick up Valhalla and carry it away to Jotunheim. 
He also avowed his intention to sack and pillage 
Asgard, and kill all the gods and goddesses except 
Freyja and Sif, who pleased his fancy, and whom 
he meant to take home with him. Freyja was the 
only one courageous enough to pour out his drink, 
and he modestly remarked that he intended to im- 
bibe all of the gods’ beer. 

After a time the Aisir grew tired of listening to 
the braggart ; so they called loudly for Thor, who 
instantly came swinging his terrible hammer, and 
inquired angrily who had given that insolent, dog- 
wise giant permission to drink in safety in Valhalla, 
and why Freyja was filling his horn with drink, as 
she was wont to fill the cups of the gods at their 
glorious festivals. 

Hrungnir looked at the strong god with any thing 
but a friendly eye, and remarked that he was under 
Odin’s protection, as he came to Asgard on his in- 
vitation. Thor replied grimly that Hrungnir might 
repent having accepted the invitation before he 
found himself well out of Asgard. Hrungnir re- 
torted that Thor would gain small meed of honor 
by slaying him there in gods’ world, where he was 
alone and unarmed. He would show far more 
valor if he were to meet him in a fair fight on the 
frontiers of his country, at a place called Grjottuna- 


232 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

gard, or, freely translated, Stonetown. “ It was a 
great piece of folly,” he added, “ that I left my 
shield and stone-club at home. Had I my arms 
with me we would instantly engage in a holmgang, 
or duel ; but I will proclaim you a coward if you 
seek to kill me unarmed.” 

Thor had never before been challenged to a holm- 
gang, and he scorned to decline the giant’s offer. 
Hrungnir was now let out of Asgard and hastened 
home. All the giants heard about Hrungnir’s jour- 
ney, and talked of it a great deal. They were par- 
ticularly interested in the challenge of Thor, for it 
was of vital consequence to them which of the two 
champions won the day. If Hrungnir, the most 
powerful of the giants, should be conquered, they 
had nothing but evil to expect from the strong god. 
They adopted the novel expedient of making an as- 
sistant, or second, for Hrungnir out of clay. This 
clay man was made at Grjottunagard, (Stonetown,) 
and was nine miles high and three miles broad be- 
tween the shoulders. They found some difficulty 
in obtaining a suitable heart for the clay giant, but 
they finally took one from a mare, which, however, 
fluttered a good deal when Thor made his ap- 
pearance. 

Hrungnir’s heart was a hard piece of stone, 
shaped like the magic triangle. His head was like- 
wise of stone, and so was his broad shield, which 
he held before him when he stood at Grjottunagard 
waiting for Thor. His weapon, a tremendous whet- 
stone, rested on his shoulder. By his side stood the 
huge clay man called Mokkerkalfe, (thick cloud or 


SOME OF THOR’S ADVENTURES. 233 

mist.) He was so terrified at the approach of the 
thunder-god that the sweat poured from him in 
streams. Thor went to the holmgang, taking with 
him his servant Thjalfe, whom, as we shall see when 
we come to the story of Utgard Loki, he had ob- 
tained from a peasant by the sea. Thjalfe was a 
swift runner, and he ran up to where Hrungnir was 
standing, and said to him : “ Thou art standing very 
carelessly, giant ! Thou holdest the shield before 
thee, but Thor has seen thee, and he will go down 
into the earth and attack thee from beneath.” 

On hearing these words Hrungnir placed the 
shield under his feet and stood upon it, while he 
grasped his whetstone with both hands. Presently 
he saw flashes of lightning and heard the loud 
booming and crashing and rolling of thunder. Thor 
was coming up clad in his divine might, and had 
thrown his hammer from a distance. Hrungnir 
now lifted up his whetstone club with both hands 
and threw it with all his power against the hammer. 
The two met in mid air, and the club was dashed 
in pieces. One portion fell on the earth, whence 
came all the whetstone or flint mountains ; while 
another portion struck Thor on the head, causing 
him to fall prostrate on the ground. The hammer, 
Mjolnir, gave Hrungnir a blow on the head and 
crushed in his skull. He fell forward over Thor, so 
that his feet lay on Thor’s neck. 

Thjalfe fought with the clay man Mokkerkalfe, 
who, owing to his cowardly nature, fell almost at 
the first blow without doing himself the least credit. 
Then Thjalfe ran to his master, Thor, and endeav- 


234 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

ored to lift Hrungnir’s huge foot from his neck, but 
he could not stir it. The god was pinned firmly to 
the ground. When they heard that their defender 
had fallen all the gods came from Asgard to Grjo- 
ttunagard and tried to remove Hrungnir’s foot ; but 
neither singly nor together were they strong enough 
to accomplish the task. Then at last came Magni, 
(strength,) a son of Thor by Jarnsaxa, a giantess; 
and, although he was but three days old, the prodig- 
ious infant threw Hrungnir’s foot from his father’s 
neck, saying, cheerily: “It was a great mishap, 
father, that I came so late. Methinks I could have 
slain this giant with my fist. Thor stood up "and 
greeted his son affectionately, and as a reward gave 
him Hrungnir’s horse Goldfax, (gold mane.) But 
Odin rebuked him, saying that so excellent a horse 
ought .not to have been given to the son of a hag, 
but to himself. 

Thor went home to Thrudvang, (thunder world,) 
but the flint-stone — half of Hrungnir’s huge whet- 
stone — remained sticking fast in his forehead. A 
prophetess, or vala, came to Thrudvang, whose 
name was Groa. She was the wife of Orvandel the 
Wise, and she sang incantations and uttered spells 
over Thor until the stone was loosened in his head. 
Thor discovered this, and just at the moment he 
expected the stone to fall he was so overjoyed that 
he wished to reward Groa for what she had done for 
him. To gladden her heart he gave her tidings of 
her beloved husband ; told her how he, Thor, had 
waded from the far North through the rivers, Eliva- 
gar, and had brought Orvandel away from Jotun- 


SOME OF THOR’S ADVENTURES. 235 

heim in an iron basket ; in proof of which he related 
how one of Orvandel’s toes had stuck out of the 
basket and got frost-bitten ; and how he, Thor, had 
broken it off and thrown it up to heaven, and made 
of it the star called Orvandel’s Toe. When the god 
finally assured her that it would not be long before 
Orvandel’s return home, Groa was so filled with de- 
light that she forgot all her magic songs and spells, 
and the flint-stone would loosen no more, but 
remained just as it was, sticking fast in Thor’s fore- 
head ; therefore no one must cast a whetstone across 
the floor, for then the stone moves in Thor’s head. 

This is one of the most complete of all the nature- 
myths with which the old Norse religion abounds, 
although some parts of it are obscure and hard to 
interpret. It is easy to see that Hrungnir, with his 
stone head and breastplate, his peaked, triangular 
heart and whetstone club, is the stone mountain. 
He lives properly enough in Stonetown, the region 
of huge precipices and boulders. His stony head 
pierces the blue sky and intrudes into Asgard, 
(heaven.) The chase which he gives sky-god Odin, 
mounted on Goldmane, may refer to the shifting, 
swiftly-moving clouds that surround his crest. He 
is a huge, windy, blustering, boastful giant ; and of 
so thirsty a nature that his stone mouth empties 
the clouds, absorbs the dew and rain of heaven, and 
thus threatens to exhaust the gods’ supply of beer, 
which we know is nothing more than the humidity 
and vapor of the air. 

His head., rising as it does into heaven, makes him 
particularly arrogant ; for he imagines he can pull 


236 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

down the shining houses of the gods and slay the 
JE sir. He has a strong desire to possess Freyja 
and Sif, because the mountains yearn to draw to 
themselves the most exquisite beauty of form and 
tint, represented by the love-goddess, and also to 
clothe their bleak sides with grass, which they can- 
not do unless Sif will come and live with them. 
Freyja pours out the giant’s drink, perhaps, because 
the beauty of the mountains is enhanced by clouds 
and tempests. When he boasts that he will drink 
up all the gods’ mead he means to swallow or drive 
away the clouds and show his craggy head against 
the sky. The great stony peak, thus boldly lifted 
up, by its very existence challenges a contest with 
the thunder-god. 

The other giants — mere masses of matter or lower 
mountains — dread the combat, because Thor, with 
his torrents, being the great leveler, their collective 
existence is threatened if he breaks down the prin- 
cipal peak. They talk together of what is impend- 
ing across great stretches of country, and finally 
decide to create the clay man Mokkerkalfe to stand 
by him in the fight. This clay giant is the low, 
flanking foot-hills, which easily crumble and wash 
down in severe storms. He is a coward, for he 
trembles and sweats at the approach of Thor. The 
shield which Hrungnir stands on is the rocky base 
of the mountain, and Thor darts into the earth in 
the form of chain lightning. 

It seems probable that portions of two or more 
myths have been joined together to make this one. 
The fall of Hrungnir may refer to avalanches and 


SOME OF THOR'S ADVENTURES. 237 

glaciers that suddenly descend mountain-sides, and 
half bury the plains by bringing with them huge 
boulders and masses of earth. Thor is crushed 
under them ; for in winter he is silent. The strokes 
of his hammer resound no longer among the af- 
frighted mountains. In poetical language Hrung- 
nir’s foot lies over the neck of the thunder-god. 
The HLsir come and successively try to lift off the 
foot, but all through the cold season they remain 
powerless. Now comes Magni, Thor’s little son by 
the giant maiden, Jarnsaxa, who with her eight sis- 
ters has been nourished on the strength of the 
earth and the cold sea. Magni is only three days 
old, but he casts off Hrungnir’s foot with the great- 
est ease. 

Now Magni, I think, is plainly the new year, 
the strength of the spring, which has easily dis- 
solved the snow and ice and set free the thunder. 
A portion of the flint-stone sticks fast in Thor’s 
forehead. This is, perhaps, a symbol of the broad 
surface of the earth, which Thor’s bolt was popu- 
larly supposed to enter during thunder-storms. It 
is more probable that it refers to the frost, which 
sinks deep into the ground and renders it as hard 
as a rock. The prophetess employed to extract the 
stone from Thor’s forehead is Groa, an earth-deity, 
whose name means letting grow, or causing to grow. 
Her husband is the young and tender plant Orvan- 
del. Groa evidently comes too early in the season 
to unfix the stone in the god’s forehead by her 
songs and incantations. She is the premature ef- 
fects of light and heat on the frozen ground, or the 


238 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

first warm days that are followed by intense cold. 
Thor feels the stone loosen, and in his joy and haste 
to reward her he tells Groa an obscure fable of her 
husband Orvandel, the plant, whom he carried out 
of Jotunheim, over ice-cold rivers, in an iron basket ; 
and how one of Orvandel’s toes stuck out of the 
basket and was frozen, and finally formed a star in 
the Great Bear, or Charles’ Wain, as it was called 
in the North. When he tells the vala that her hus- 
band will soon return, she is delighted beyond 
measure, and forgets her magic songs, and the 
stone loosens no more. 

This shows that Groa is the premature spring, 
who comes to partially lure the frost from the 
ground. The true spring will not appear until 
Orvandel, her husband, the little sprout, returns to 
the earth. Probably because of the nourishing in- 
fluence of early showers, the sprout is intrusted to 
Thor, who carries it in an iron gasket, the earth. 
But, unluckily, it protrudes too early from the 
ground, and is nipped by frost. 

Thjalfe, Thor’s attendant, is a swift runner, and 
goes in advance of the god. He, no doubt, sym- 
bolizes the rushing, roaring torrents of rain that 
often come a little before the thunder. He beats 
down the clay mountain, and with his impetuous 
streams tears it in pieces. There are few more per- 
fect nature-myths than this, which shows the thun- 
der-god contending with the mountain-giants in 
his efforts to open valleys and level plains, and sub- 
due the surface of the earth for man’s use. In 
these contests his all-powerful hammer symbolizes 


SOME OF THOR’S ADVENTURES. 239 

the lightning ; his unequaled strength is represent- 
ed by the belt with which his waist is girded, and 
the pealing and muttering and rumbling of the 
thunder by the roll of his chariot wheels. He con- 
tended mightily with the mountain-giants ; but he 
was also the bitter enemy of the frost and sea 
giants. He melted the former by his warm, impet- 
uous showers, and dashed them to pieces with his 
winds. The latter he subdued by terrible hurri- 
canes and fierce tornadoes. His conflict with the 
Midgard Serpent is the most famous of all his ex- 
ploits, and in the next chapter I will give you the 
oldest version of that mighty battle, and the events 
which induced Thor to undertake it. 


240 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

HOW THOR WENT FISHING FOR THE MIDGARD 
SERPENT. 

GIR, the great sea-deity, annually invited the 



gods of Asgard to visit and feast with him 
and the assembled vans, divinities of air and water. 
This happened at a time when sky and sea were 
very tranquil, and great harmony prevailed between 
heaven and earth. Now it occurred unluckily on a 
certain occasion that the gods who were visiting 
JEgir could not get enough to drink, because JEgir 
was sadly in want of a kettle for brewing ale. 

He asked Thor to kindly go and fetch a kettle 
for him, but neither the gods nor the vans knew 
where one could be procured, until Tyr, the strong 
god, told Thor that his father, Hymir, who lived 
east of the ice-cold rivers, called Elivager, at the 
far end of heaven, had an excellent kettle, strong 
and well made, and a mile deep. “ Do you think 
we can get it ? ” quoth Thor. “ Yes, by stratagem 
it may be procured/' returned Tyr. Thor deter- 
mined to undertake the adventure, and assumed 
the semblance of a young man. He traveled with 
Tyr and his goats until they came to a person 
named Egil, with whom they left the goats, and 
they then kept on to Hymir’s Hall. Here Tyr en- 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 


24I 


countered his grandmother, a frightful old giantess, 
with nine hundred heads ; but his mother, a lovely 
light-browed woman, all shining with gold, came 
and gave them drink, and advised them to hide un- 
der the kettles, in the hall, because of Hymir, who 
was not fond of strangers, and was of a cruel dispo- 
sition. 

Hymir returned very late from fishing, and as he 
came into the hall the icebergs echoed and rang. 
His beard was full of frost, and a hard-frozen wood 
stood on his cheek. Then Tyr’s mother spoke, and 
said, “ I welcome you home, Hymir. Our son, 
whom we have so long desired to see, has at last come, 
and with him the avowed enemy of the giant race, 
the friend of man and protector of Asgard. They 
have concealed themselves behind a pillar at the 
end of the hall.” Hymir merely looked at the pil- 
lar which his wife had indicated, and it burst asun- 
der and the cross-beam was snapped and eight ket- 
tles fell down with a crash. Only one was so strong 
that it did not break in falling. 

Both Tyr and Thor were now obliged to stand 
forth, and the giant eyed the thunder-god with sus- 
picion. He was not too well pleased to see the 
great enemy of his race standing in his own hall ; 
but still he acknowledged the rights of the stranger, 
and certain duties of hospitality which bound all 
classes of beings. He therefore ordered three oxen 
to be cooked for supper, and when they were served 
Thor, whose appetite was enormous, coolly pro- 
ceeded to devour two out of the three. Hymir 
felt alarmed at this exhibition of greed at his own 
10 


242 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

table ; he feared being eaten out of house and h.ome. 
He therefore informed his unwelcome guests that 
the next day they must go out to fish in order to 
procure a supply of food for the evening meal. 

Thor spent the night at the giant’s house, and 
the next morning, in accordance with Hymir’s in- 
vitation, they rowed out to sea, to the spot where 
Hymir was accustomed to catch whales. Thor in- 
sisted on rowing far beyond this place, for he had 
in mind to fish for the Midgard Serpent, the largest 
and most horrible of all the monsters that live in 
the deep. Hymir caught two whales at one haul. 
Thor also fished, but the Midgard Serpent took his 
bait, and the mighty god drew the horrible spotted 
snake up to the side of the boat. His head was 
monstrous, and the foam and venom from his 
mouth spouted mountain high. Thor struck the 
serpent’s head with his hammer, whereupon a 
mighty tumult broke forth ; the rocks burst, the 
caverns thundered, old mother Earth shrank and 
shuddered in her bed, and the frightened fishes fell 
to the bottom of the sea. Then, it is said, the giant 
became so terrified he cut Thor’s line, and the dread- 
ful serpent dropped into the waves. 

Thor was angry at the interference of the giant 
just at the moment when his victory seemed as- 
sured, and he struck him a sound blow on the ear 
with his fist, and old Hymir fell headforemost into 
the water. But finally the giant managed to crawl 
back into the boat, and they rowed to land, taking 
the two whales Elymir had caught along with them. 
The giant was silent and sullen all the way, and 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 


243 


when they came to shore, Thor picked up the boat 
and all it contained and carried it to Hymir’s 
hall. 

The giant was not appeased, but remained sulky 
after the day’s adventures. However, he compli- 
mented the god on his rowing, and challenged him 
to again show his strength by trying to break his 
drinking-cup. Thor took the goblet in his hand 
and dashed it against an upright rock; but the rock 
was shattered to pieces, and the cup remained un- 
broken. He then threw it against the pillars of the 
hall, but it was brought back perfect and entire to 
Hymir’s hand. The beautiful, shining-browed 
woman now whispered a word of good advice in 
Thor’s ear. “ Hurl it against Hymir’s forehead,’ 
said she, “ for it is harder than any drinking-horn.” 
Thor then raised himself on his knee, and assumed 
his As strength, or god-like might. The cup flew 
from his hand, but the old giant’s brow remained as 
before. The drinking-horn was dashed into frag- 
ments. Hymir had lost a great treasure, but he 
complimented Thor on his performance, and told 
him there remained but one further trial of his 
strength. “You must now,” said he, “make the 
attempt to carry the beer kettle out of the hall.” 
Tyr, who was tremendously strong, tried twice to 
lift the kettle, but could not stir it. Then Thor 
took hold of it at the rim with such a grip that his 
feet broke through the floor. He placed the kettle 
on his head, and its rungs rang about his feet. He 
then set off with Tyr, his companion ; but on look- 
ing back he saw a host of many-headed giants 


244 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

swarming out of Hymir’s caverns. Then he lifted 
off the kettle from his shoulders, and swung might- 
ily Mjolnir, the hammer, and crushed these pursu- 
ers with a blow. Then picking up the kettle again, 
he kept on his way as far as Egil’s, where he had 
left his goats, and he had not got far away from that 
place when one of his goats fell lame. But at last, 
after all his toils and conflicts, he came to the feast 
of the gods, bringing the welcome beer kettle ; and 
every year at the time of the flax harvest JEgir 
brews ale in it to feast the ^Esir. 

Here we have the oldest version of this wonder- 
ful story ; but there is another from the prose Edda 
of Snorri, which differs from it in some important 
particulars. It has no connection with ^Egir’s feast 
or Hymir’s kettle, but we are told that Thor pre- 
sented himself to the sea-god, disguised as a young 
man, and begged to be allowed to go out fishing 
with him. Hymir answered contemptuously that a 
puny stripling, such as he was, could be of no great 
use to him in fishing. “ Besides,” he added, “ you 
will take cold if you go as far out and remain as 
long as I am accustomed to do.” Thor replied 
that he was good at rowing, and it was far from 
certain which of the two would first tire and wish 
to return to land. He was enraged with the giant, 
and his fingers itched to seize the mallet and swing 
it about his ears ; but, intending otherwise to em- 
ploy his strength, he stifled his anger, and asked 
Hymir what he meant to use for bait. Hymir re- 
plied that he might provide his own bait, where- 
upon Thor strode up to a herd of oxen, and seizing 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 


245 


the largest, named Himnibrjot, wrung off its head, 
and returned with it to the boat. Then he and 
Hymir rowed out to sea. Thor rowed aft with 
two oars, and so powerfully, that the giant was 
obliged to acknowledge they were speeding very 
fast through the water. He himself rowed at the 
prow, and it was not long before he informed the 
god that they had already come to the place where 
he was in the habit of catching flat fish. 

But Thor was anxious to go on, and they con- 
tinued rowing for some time. Hymir now observed 
that they had come into the neighborhood of the 
Midgard Serpent, where it would be dangerous to 
remain. But nevertheless Thor kept on rowing 
mightily, and it was yet a long time before he 
would desist. Finally he put down his oars, and 
attached the head of the ox to a very strong hook 
and line. The old serpent immediately snapped at 
the bait, and the hook stuck fast in his throat. 
Maddened by the pain, he tugged so stoutly at the 
hook that Thor was obliged to hold fast with both 
hands at the pegs that bear against the oars. This 
made the god frantic with anger, and he assumed 
all his divine strength, and pulled until his feet went 
through the boat to the bottom of the sea. By main 
force he now drew the monster up alongside the 
boat, and the conflict ensued much as it is described 
in the previous version. ^ 

Hymir saw the serpent rising from the waves, and 
turned pale and trembled with dread. The water 
was entering his boat on all sides ; quickly he drew 
his knife, just as Thor raised his hammer, and cut 


246 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the line, and the snake fell back into the sea. Thor 
let fly his hammer, and some say the serpent’s head 
was struck off, but the old enemy still lives, coiled 
all about the earth, at the bottom of the sea, and 
shall exist until Ragnarock. The thunder-god then 
struck Hymir under the ear, and laid him flat in 
the water, after which the god, with great strides, 
waded ashore, and it is to be inferred that he left 
the giant to pick himself up and save his boat as 
best he could. 

This battle with the Midgard Serpent is the most 
famous of all Thor’s exploits, the one that has clung 
most tenaciously to the popular mind. It contains 
all the notions and fancies of the ancients concern- 
ing very remote regions of the sea. They were 
pretty well acquainted with the sea as far as Hy- 
mir’s fishing-ground, or the parts near the shore, 
where they were in the habit of cruising in their 
little boats. Into the deep ocean they did not ven- 
ture, for there their excited fancy told them lay the 
dread Midgard Serpent which, when angry, lashed 
the waves into turmoil, heaved them mountain 
high, and spouted forth torrents of foam. Thor 
may be called the first explorer in those awful un- 
known regions, and he makes use of the shore- 
giant’s boat to perform his journey. 

But we well know that Thor is only the thunder- 
storm moving with power and majesty over the 
deep. Hymir’s kettle is a large pool in the rocks, 
somewhere along the shore. y£gir is destitute of a 
kettle, and cannot brew ale for the gods, because he 
is an open-sea divinity, and does not control- the 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 


247 


coast. Thor, who can travel anywhere with the 
swiftness of wind and cloud, goes to fetch Hymir’s 
pot. Now, that Hymir is a giant of the far North, 
is evident from the frost on his beard and the 
frozen woo'd that stands upon his cheek. Higir’s 
beer is the frothing, foaming, boiling surf when, on 
a swollen tide, it rushes into all the bays and hol- 
lows and inlets of the shore. 

Tyr, who accompanies Thor on this expedition, 
is a war-god and god of strength. Those pos- 
sessed of unusual bodily power are called Tyr, 
(strong.) He gives glory to the brave lighter. 
Sometimes he is called the son of Odin by a giant 
maiden ; but here he appears as the son of old, 
coastwise Hymir, by a very beautiful shining 
woman, who proves friendly to Thor. Tyr’s hid- 
eous old grandmother, with her nine hundred heads, 
is, doubtless, only the terror of the many-headed 
waves. His shining mother is the calm brightness 
and loveliness of the quiet sea. He is strength, 
born of serenity. 

The seven pots, which shiver and break when 
Hymir comes into the hall, are probably still, frozen 
pools in the rocks ; but the stout, unbroken pot is 
the whirlpool, which never freezes. Hymir is a 
grim, old, frost-bearded giant, well suited to con- 
trol the dark and frowning cliffs along the shore ; 
but he does not like to venture far away from land, 
and the fear of the great deep, the Midgard Ser- 
pent, is ever before his eyes. For this reason he 
remonstrates with Thor when he wishes to row out 
to sea. Thor’s swift rowing is the fierce and rapid 


248 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

motion of the thunder-cloud over water. The Mid- 
gard Serpent rears his head mountain high, just as 
the sea swells in a great storm, and Thor strikes 
him with his hammer — the thunderbolt ; then, after 
a terrible commotion of wind and rain, lightning 
and thunder and lashing waves, the old serpent 
again sinks down to the bottom, and the sea gradu- 
ally grows calm. 

Hymir is involved in the fray, for when a great 
storm occurs in the distant sea the rocks and cliffs 
along the shore soon feel its fury. When they re- 
turn home Hymir is sullen and gloomy, like his own 
wreck-strewn beaches and inlets, with the thunder- 
cloud brooding overhead. The might of the waves, 
spending the effects of the tempest along the coast, 
is shown in a very pretty fable. Old Hymir hands 
Thor a drinking-cup, which is nothing less than the 
seething, foaming ocean, and requests him to try 
his strength by shattering it in pieces. The god 
hurls it against various objects, which stand for 
the detached rocks and buttresses of the shore ; 
they are shattered to pieces, as cliffs and headlands 
are beaten down and washed away by the action of 
waves, but the cup remains unharmed. At last the 
beautiful giantess whispers to Thor to cast the 
cup against Hymir’s forehead. He obeys, and it is 
broken into fragments. Hymir’s forehead repre- 
sents the whole rocky barrier of the shore, which, 
though its outposts may be torn down by the en- 
croaching sea, still forms the great safeguard of 
continents, and says to the waves, “ Thus far, and 
no farther.” 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 


249 

When the divinities try their strength at lifting 
the kettle Tyr fails, for though a strong god, he 
is not strong enough. He is not the strength of the 
earth, but the sudden inflow of vigor that comes when 
courage is quickly and violently aroused. Thor’s 
strength is like the pull of gravitation, by which the 
sun draws the planets ; therefore he lifts the kettle 
easily, and walks off with it over his head. The 
rungs which rattle about his feet refer, perhaps, to 
the great circles of the whirlpool. The many- 
headed giants that come swarming out of Hymir’s 
caves are only the racing, frothing, crowding waves 
along the shore. Thor lifts off the kettle for a 
moment and deals them a blow with his ham- 
mer, and then pursues his way to the feast of the 
gods. 

This wonderful myth is only the various aspects 
of the sea put into a little tale. Though the great- 
est mystery of nature to the ancients, its plan, as it 
lay mapped out in their minds, was very simple. 
They thought of it as a broad stream surrounding 
the entire disk of the earth, which was flat and 
round. At the bottom lay coiled the mighty Mid- 
gard Serpent, child of the evil-minded Loki, holding 
its tail in its mouth. The Midgard Serpent was the 
sea itself ; but it was popularly regarded as the ter- 
ror, mystery, and destructive forces of water, imag- 
ined in the form of a huge dragon that, in stormy 
weather, rises and lashes the waves into fury, and in 
calm weather lies peacefully coiled asleep at the 
bottom of the ocean. 

The Midgard Serpent is evil because, before man 


250 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

learns to control it, the sea is looked upon as his 
great enemy. For this reason the sea is the off- 
spring of the wicked Loki, and will finally help to 
overthrow the gods and to destroy the universe. 
All ancient poetry is filled with descriptions of the 
terror of the sea, which, before men became naviga- 
tors, filled them with shuddering dread. They were 
like children running before an incoming tide, which 
chased them, and sometimes overwhelmed them, 
as they believed, owing to the malignant dispo- 
sition of some being that lay hidden behind the 
natural appearance. This being the Norsemen im- 
agined to be in the form of the mighty Midgard 
Serpent. 

It is possible that the germ of the old Midgard 
dragon can be traced back to the ancient serpent 
worship of the East. Instead of coiling their sacred 
snake about the trunk of a tree, as a symbol of life 
or of eternity, the gigantic imagination of the North 
threw it into the ocean and allowed it to encircle 
the whole earth. This myth has been many times 
changed and reborn, and the popular tales about 
sea-serpents, krakens, and sea-monsters of various 
forms can be directly traced to the Midgard snake, 
which embraces all that was once conjectured or 
imagined about remote and unknown parts of the 
sea. 

Old Midgard is the father of a dreadful brood 
that still haunts the excited fancy of mankind. 
I will now tell you a very humorous story of how 
Thor lost and recovered his hammer. 

Thor had slept, probably during the cold winter, 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 2$ I 

when thunder-storms but seldom occur. Sudden- 
ly Ving Thor (winged Thor) awoke. His beard 
shook and his mighty head trembled with rage, 
for he missed his hammer. It had been stolen 
during his sleep. He looked around and thus 
spoke to the fire-god, who was near him : “ Mark, 
Loki, what I say — that no one knows, either in 
earth or in high heaven, that my hammer has been 
stolen.” 

The two gods set off together for the house of 
Freyja, beautiful goddess of love, and asked her to 
lend them her feather dress that they might get 
back the hammer. Freyja complied willingly, and 
sly Loki put on the dress and flew away out of 
gods’ world into giants.’ world, where he saw Thrym, 
the king of the giants, sitting on a hill outside his 
hall. He was twisting gold bands or collars for his 
dogs and smoothing out the manes of his horses. 
He greeted Loki very civilly. “ How fares it,” 
quoth he, “ with the zEsir [gods] and the Alfar, 
[elves,] and why do you come alone to giants’ 
land ? ” 

“ 111 fare the ^Esir ancL the Alfar,” returned 
Loki ; “ and I came to ask if you have hidden Thor’s 
hammer ?” 

“ I have hidden Thor’s hammer,” returned Thrym, 
“ rasts [miles] under the ground, and no one shall 
get it back unless he brings me Freyja for my 
bride.” 

Then Loki turned about, and his falcon plumage 
whizzed as he flew from giants’ world back to gods’ 
world. Thor met him and bade him tell his news 


2^2 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

straight before perching. “For,” said he, “who- 
ever reclines often speaks falsehoods.” 

“ Thrym has your hammer,” returned Loki; “and 
he vows no one shall get it back unless he gives him 
Freyja for his bride.” 

Then the two gods repaired to the lovely Freyja 
and gave her news of the hammer, and requested 
her to put on a bridal veil and ride with them to 
giants’ world. But Freyja was outraged by the 
proposal, and flew into a dreadful passion. The 
heavenly halls trembled, and her necklace, the 
Brisingamen, snapped in two. “ I must indeed be 
very amorous and fond of men’s society,” said she, 
“ were I to go with thee to giants’ world.” 

Then all the gods held a meeting in the doom- 
ring, and the goddesses also consulted together to 
devise some means of getting back the hammer, 
which was absolutely essential to the safety of 
heaven. Heimdall, the white god, who was a van, 
and could look into the future, spoke and said : 
“ Let us bind a bridal veil on Thor, and decorate 
him with the necklace, Brisingamen. Let keys jin- 
gle at his waist and a woman’s dress cover his 
knees. Let precious stones be placed upon his 
breast and an elegant head-dress on his head.” 
But Thor, the great thunder-god, was for once 
ashamed. “ The gods,” he said, “ will jeer at me if 
I am decked out in a bridal veil.” 

Loki replied that unless the hammer was soon 
brought back the giants would come to live in gods’ 
world. So they dressed Thor exactly as Heimdall 
had recommended, and Loki accompanied him on 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 253 

the journey disguised as his waiting-maid. Thor’s 
progress to giants* world was magnificent. The 
goats skipped, the mountains burst, the earth blazed, 
when Thor drove past in his chariot. Then the 
giant-king said to his attendants : “ Stand up, 
giants ! Spread cushions on the benches, and lead 
to me the bride Freyja. Let gold-horned cows and 
coal-black oxen be brought in multitudes to my 
dwelling. I have enough ornaments and treasure 
to satisfy my desires, and Freyja alone was want- 
ing to me.” 

Early in the evening the bride arrived, the giants 
assembled, and the festivities began. Thor sat down 
to supper and devoured an ox, eight salmon, and 
all the dainties and knickknacks prepared for the 
ladies. He washed down his repast with three large 
vessels of mead. Thrym looked amazed at this ex- 
h b'tion, and remarked that he had never seen a 
bride eat so much or drink so large a quantity of 
beer. The wily waiting-maid, Loki, sat near. She 
replied that for eight nights and days Freyja had 
eaten nothing, so ardently did she long after Jotun- 
heim. The giant was flattered, and raised the bride’s 
veil, and bent forward with the design of giving her 
a kiss, but he started back in horror and rushed 
through the hall crying: “ Why has Freyja such a 
piercing look? Her eyes burn like coals of fire.” 
Loki shrewdly replied that Freyja had not slept for 
eight nights, so great was her longing for Jotun- 
heim. 

At this moment the giant-king’s unlucky old 
sister came into the hall to beg a bridal gift. “ If 


254 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

you would win my love and favor,” said she to the 
pretended bride, “ give me the rings of red gold 
you wear on your hand.” Thrym then ordered 
that Thor’s hammer be brought in and laid on the 
bride’s lap, as a consecrating rite, and that they be 
immediately united in the name of Vor, the oath- 
god. Thor’s heart laughed in his breast when he 
felt the hammer on his knees. Instantly he seized 
and swung it, and slew Thrym and all the race of 
giants. The poor old sister who had begged for 
bridal presents he did not spare. For gifts and 
rings he gave her blows. 

Thrym is a stupid old thunderer, who sets up to 
rival Thor in his own department, and thus tries 
to bring beauty and productiveness in the form of 
Freyja to live with him. He is, perhaps, a lofty 
arid mountain, always resounding with noisy water- 
falls and rushing avalanches. He steals the god’s 
hammer and locks it, probably by means of frost, 
deep in the earth. Thor borrows the raiment and 
necklace of Freyja, just as the thunder-cloud often 
borrows the most exquisite loveliness from the sun 
and air, and seems to deck itself with jewels and a 
bridal veil. 

The black oxen and the cows with gilded horns, 
which opulent Thyrm prepares for the feast, are 
the clouds about his lofty head. Thor has a vora- 
cious appetite, just as the summer tempest seems 
to swallow and devour the earth. The bringing 
forth of the hammer to consecrate the bridal shows 
that the sign of the hammer was used in ancient 
times at wedding ceremonies. The cunning Loki 


HOW THOR WENT FISHING. 255 

goes along as waiting-maid and uses his arts to 
deceive Thrym, for fire is always disguised and 
hidden somewhere in the thunder-cloud. This 
myth is in the broadest comic vein, and was in- 
tended, perhaps, to shake the sides of the gods 
in Asgard. 


2$6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 

HERE are fragments of tradition scattered 



1- through Scandinavia which hint at the exist- 
ence of a small, dark race of men, who, in very re- 
mote times, lived in caves, and, together with some 
men of monstrous stature, the giants, fully peopled 
the land before invaders from Asia came and drove 
them into the far North. 

These ancient native people, it has been conject- 
ured, were the ancestors of the Lapps and Finns, 
and, because of their diminutive size and their 
knowledge of magic, gave rise to the innumerable 
dwarf and elf stories, that are still to be found in 
all parts of the North. 

The remnant of the giant-race, not exterminated 
by the invaders, so says tradition, betook them- 
selves to the hills and forests, where their descend- 
ants still lingered in the beginning of Christian 
times. Those who seek a historical basis for the 
Northern mythology explain the conflicts between 
the gods and giants as real events, fierce and pro- 
tracted wars waged between the early inhabitants 
and the Asiatic invaders, ancestors of the ancient 
Norsemen. 

These questions it is now impossible to settle. 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 257 

We can neither positively affirm or deny that the 
myths have a historical foundation, and refer to 
events so lost in the obscurity of time, that it is out 
of the question to do more than guess their nature. 
The symbolic and highly figurative language of 
myths precludes them from being turned into nar- 
ratives of actual events. They belong to the realm 
of poetry. But they, no doubt, do indicate such 
broad and general facts as the migration of races, 
important changes in religious belief, or the deifi- 
cation of some great chieftain. 

In this curious story of Utgard Loki we are in- 
troduced to a new system of gods, who are con- 
trasted with the Odinic JEsir and partly in conflict 
with them. Some scholars have conjectured that 
these are the old Finnish gods, who were widely 
worshiped before the advent of the Eastern divini- 
ties, and were then driven into a corner. It is pos- 
sible that the first idea of Loki was borrowed from 
this faith, and then expanded and changed, untfl 
there were two Lokis in existence — one, the capri- 
cious, artful fire-god, and evil demon of the new 
religion; the other, Utgard Loki, (outside Loki,) 
the pure nature-god and magic worker of the old 
race. It is possible that this myth was invented by 
the adherents of the old faith to prove its superior- 
ity over the upstart religion brought from Asia. 

The ancient Finns and Lapps are celebrated for 
their skill in necromancy. This story abounds in 
deceptions, and seems like the model of the wonder- 
tales of the nursery, such as Cinderella and Jack the 
Giant-killer. Many such stories sprang indirectly 
17 


258 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

from heathenism, and some of them, perhaps, had 
in the beginning a mythical meaning, now lost be- 
cause of the numerous changes through which they 
have passed. With a few slight alterations, Utgard 
Loki might have become as popular as Puss in 
Boots or Blue Beard, while it really embraces some 
vague account of two rival religions. 

In the prose Edda we are told that Gylfi, or Gang- 
ler, the wise Swedish king, made diligent inquiry 
of the gods as to whether Thor had ever been over- 
come in any of his expeditions, either by spells or 
by downright force. Har gave an ambiguous an- 
swer to this question. He said Thor had often 
fared badly in his encounters, but no one would 
undertake to say that he had been actually worsted, 
for both gods and men were bound to believe him 
invincible. Gangler pressed for more explicit infor- 
mation on this point, and Thridi, the highest god, 
after warning him to observe a becoming silence in 
reference to the story he was about to tell, evident- 
ly because the yEsir were ashamed of Thor’s defeat 
and wished to conceal it, finally related the follow- 
ing adventure : 

Once upon a time, Thor drove out in his goat 
chariot, accompanied by Loki, and in the evening 
they arrived at the house of a peasant, where they 
put up for the night. Thor killed his goats, and, 
after flaying them, put them into the kettle to boil. 
When the meat was cooked he invited the peasant 
and his wife, his son, named Thjalfi, and his daugh- 
ter, Roskva, to sup with him, and he desired them, 
after picking the bones, to throw them all into the 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 259 

goat-skins which were spread out near the fire-place. 
But young Thjalfi carelessly broke a thigh-bone to 
get at the marrow. Thor slept in the cottage that 
night, and rose at dawn of day, and when he was 
dressed he lifted Mjolnir, his hammer, high in the 
air, and consecrated the goat-skins. Immediately 
the goats sprang up alive, but one was lame and 
limped with his hind-leg. Thor, perceiving this, 
called angrily to the peasant, and told him that he, 
or one of his family, had too roughly handled the 
shank-bone of his goat, for he now saw that it had 
been broken. The peasant was ready to sink into 
the earth with dismay when he saw the god’s black 
and angry brow and his knuckles strained white as 
he clutched the handle of his hammer. The looks - 
of the god were too terrifying to endure, and the 
peasant and his family begged piteously for pardon, 
and offered to atone for the offense by giving up 
their little all. Thor seeing the fright he had in- 
spired grew more placable, and finally satisfied him- 
self by taking the peasant’s two children, his son, 
Thjalfi, and his daughter, Roskva, for his servants. 
At that time they became his constant attendants, 
and have followed him ever since. Thjalfi, you will 
remember, was Thor’s second, who demolished the 
clay-man in the fight with Hrungnir. He is prob- 
ably the mighty rushing wind, which goes before 
the thunder-storm. 

Leaving the goats with the peasant, Thor pro- 
ceeded eastward on the road to Jotunheim. He 
came to the shores of a vast sea, which he crossed, 
and then penetrated into a strange country with 


260 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Loki, Thjalfi, and Roskva. They had not gone far 
when they came to a very large, dark forest, where 
they wandered about all day. Thjalfi was the best 
runner among men, and he carried Thor’s wallet ; 
but the forest was destitute of food — they could 
find nothing to stow away in the wallet. When 
darkness came on they searched on all sides for a 
place to pass the night, and at last came to a very 
large hall, with a door at one end, as wide as the 
house itself. Here they entered and chose out a 
place to sleep, but at midnight an earthquake shook 
the ground, and the house trembled in every joint. 

Thor arose, and called his companions to seek 
with him some place of safety. Groping along in 
the dark, they found a large adjoining chamber, 
which they entered. Loki and the attendants shook 
with fear and crept into the remotest corner; but 
Thor sat down in the doorway, hammer in hand, 
prepared to defend himself come what might. His 
followers were terrified by a terrible groaning heard 
during all hours of the night. At the first peep of 
day Thor went out, and discovered an enormous 
giant lying near him on the ground, who slept and 
snored loudly. He could now account for the fright- 
ful noises which had disturbed them during the 
night, and he buckled on his belt of strength, of 
which he stood in immediate need. 

The giant awoke, shook himself, and rose up, and 
it is said that for once in his life Thor was afraid to 
swing his hammer. He contented himself with 
civilly inquiring the giant’s name. “ My name is 
Skrymir,” returned the giant; “but I have no need 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 


26l 


to ask thy name, for I know thou art the god Thor. 
But what hast thou done with my glove ?” And, 
stretching out his hand, he picked up his glove, 
which Thor perceived was what he and his compan- 
ions had mistaken, the previous night, for a hall. 
The chamber where they had found shelter was the 
thumb. Skrymir then asked permission to join their 
company, and Thor gave his consent. The giant 
untied his wallet, and began to munch his breakfast. 
Thor and his companions took their morning meal 
in a place apart. Then Skrymir proposed that they 
should put their provisions together in one bag. 
Thor did not object, and Skrymir emptied all the 
meat into a wallet and slung it over his shoulder. 
Thus he walked on before Thor and his party the 
whole day, taking tremendous strides. 

Late in the evening they found a place to sleep 
under an immense oak-tree. The giant said he 
would lie down and rest, but they might take the 
wallet and prepare their supper. Skrymir soon fell 
asleep and snored fearfully, but, strange as it may 
seem, Thor, when he tried to open the wallet, could 
not untie a single knot, or loosen one of the straps. 
Seeing his labors were in vain, he grew very angry, 
and, grasping his hammer with both hands, he ad- 
vanced a step, and launched it with power at the 
giant’s head. Skrymir awoke, and asked drowsily 
if a leaf had fallen on his head. He also inquired 
whether they had taken their supper and were ready 
to go to sleep. Thor replied grimly that they were 
just ready for bed. 

After having shown this polite solicitude for his 


2 62 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

companions’ welfare, the giant went and laid him- 
self down under another oak tree, and was soo 
slumbering. But sleep did not visit Thor’s eyes, 
and when, at midnight, the forest resounded wit’ 
Skrymir’s snoring, he arose and grasped his ham 
mer, and threw it with such force at the giant’s hea< 
that it sank up to the handle in his skull. Skrymi 
roused himself at this, and said : “ What is the mat- 
ter? Did an acorn fall on my head ? How goes it 
with thee, Thor ? ” But Thor went hastily away, 
saying that he had just been awakened ; that it was 
only midnight, and there was still time for sleep. 

He now resolved, if he could find opportunity, to 
strike a third blow that should settle all accounts 
between him and the giant. A little before day- 
break he perceived that Skrymir was again fast 
asleep ; so he arose, grasped Mjolnir with all his 
might, and hurled it from him with such violence 
that it forced its way into the giant’s cheek up to 
the handle. Now Skrymir, raising himself on his 
elbow, patted and stroked his cheek, and said, “ Are 
there any birds above me in this tree ? It seemed, 
as I awoke, that a feather fell from the bough on 
my head. Are you awake, Thor ? It is now time 
to get up and dress, for we are not far from the fa- 
mous city called Utgard, (outer world.) I have 
heard you chatting with your companions, and say- 
ing that I am a man of no small stature. But if you 
come into the city of Utgard you will see there 
many men taller than I am. I will give you a 
friendly piece of advice : When you come to Utgard 
do not boast and make too much of yourselves, for 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 263 

the followers of Utgard Loki will not endure the 
bragging of such little creatures as you are. If you 
follow my counsel you will turn about and go home 
now, but if you still persist in visiting the city, keep 
on the road that runs to the eastward, for mine now 
lies north toward yonder rocks and mountains which 
you see in the distance.” Skrymir then slung his 
wallet over his shoulder, and took the path that led 
into the forest, and it has never been rumored that 
Thor or any of the other gods wished again to 
meet with him. 

The thunder-god and his comrades pursued their 
journey until noon, when they saw a city on a vast 
plain, so lofty they were forced to bend their necks 
quite back on their shoulders before they could get 
sight of the top of it. On arriving at this wonder- 
ful place they found it inclosed by walls and a gate 
of brass securely locked and bolted. Thor and his 
companions tried in vain to open the gate, but at 
last they contrived to creep through the bars, and 
thus stole into the city. A large palace rose before 
them with the door wide open. They entered atid 
found a company of men of immense stature sitting 
on two benches. 

The god and his comrades strode on through the 
hall, and came to the place where the king, Utgard 
Loki, was sitting. They greeted him with great 
civility, but the king answered their salutations with 
a contemptuous look, and, after scanning them from 
head to foot for some time, said scornfully, “ It is 
tedious to ask travelers to relate the particulars of 
a long journey, yet, if I am not mistaken, that little 


264 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

fellow yonder is Aku (charioteer) Thor, though 
perhaps,” addressing him, “ you are taller than you 
appear. But tell me what are the achievements 
that you and your followers are skilled in, for no 
one is allowed to remain here who, in some feat, 
does not excel all others.” 

Loki entered last, and he answered with ready 
wit : “ One feat I know, and I am ready to exhibit 
forthwith. I can devour my food as expeditiously 
as another. I am prepared to prove my skill against 
any one here. Who will compete with me ? ” 

“That,” returned Utgard Loki, “will be a nota- 
ble feat, provided you perform what you prom- 
ise, and it shall forthwith be tried.” He then 
called one of his men from the farther end of the 
bench, whose name was Logi, (devouring flame,) to 
come forward and try his skill with Loki. A 
trough filled with meat was placed on the floor, and 
Loki seated himself at one end and Logi at the 
other, and both ate with all speed until they met in 
the middle of the trough. Loki had devoured the 
flesh and left the bones, but Logi had eaten flesh 
and bones, and the trough also. 

All the company then cried out that Loki from 
Asgard (gods’ world) was fairly beaten. Utgard 
Loki then inquired what game Thor’s serving-man 
could excel in. Thjalfi, the fleet-footed, replied 
that he would try a race with any one whom Ut- 
gard Loki might select. The king replied that 
skill in running was an excellent art, but the youth 
must indeed be very swift of foot if he would win 
the race. He then arose with all his company and 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 


265 


went to a beautiful plain where there was a fine 
race-course, and calling to him a young man named 
Hugi, (spirit-thought,) he bade him run a match 
with Thjalfi. In the first course Hugi gained the 
advantage so far that when he had reached the 
stake he turned and came to meet Thor’s serving- 
man. Utgard Loki enjoyed the joke, and he called 
out, “ You must make better time than that, Thjalfi, 
if you expect to win. I am fain to confess I 
have never seen a better runner among men.” In 
the second course poor Thjalfi was a long bow-shot 
from the goal when his opponent came up to it. 
“ Bravely done, Thjalfi ! ” cried the old king, “ but 
I fear you will not win ; however, the third course 
must settle that.” They now ran the third heat, 
and Hugi was at the goal before Thor’s man had 
reached the middle of the course, and the whole 
company gave the victory to Hugi. 

Utgard Loki now very politely inquired of Thor 
what were the feats which he himself wished to 
exhibit, and which would confirm the popular rumor 
of his great strength. Thor answered that he 
would undertake to drink with any of the men of 
Utgard, and, the king agreeing to this proposal, 
they all returned to the hall, where he ordered his 
cup-bearer to bring the large horn of atonement out 
of which his followers were forced to drink when 
they had broken any of the laws of that country. 
The cup-bearer having presented the horn to Thor, 
Utgard Loki casually remarked that he who is con- 
sidered a good drinker will empty the horn at a 
single draught, though some stout men can only 


266 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

empty it at two attempts, but the puniest drinker 
is able to drain it in three. Thor surveyed the 
drinking-cup, which did not appear to him very 
large, though it looked long. As he was extremely 
thirsty he put the horn to his lips, and, without 
drawing breath, drank as long and as stoutly as he 
possibly could, that he might not be obliged to pull 
twice. But what was his mortification when, on 
setting down the horn and looking in, he could see 
that the liquor had scarcely fallen at all in the 
cup. 

“ You have done tolerably well,” returned Utgard 
Loki, “ but still nothing to boast of. I would not 
have believed, had it been reported to me, that Asa 
Thor (god Thor) was unable to drink more. But I 
am very confident you will drain the horn at the 
second draught.” Thor prudently refrained from 
answering, but he raised the horn to his lips and 
drank with all his might. When he had done it 
seemed as though he had swallowed less than be- 
fore, although he could now carry the horn without 
spilling. 

Utgard Loki cried out jeeringly, “ How now, 
Thor ? Don’t spare yourself more than is becom- 
ing. If you mean to empty the horn at the third 
draught you must pull deeply, and I am forced to 
say, you will not be called so great a man here as 
elsewhere if you do not distinguish yourself in other 
games more than you appear likely to do in this.” 

Utgard Loki’s speech was very galling to the 
thunder-god, and, in great anger, he raised the horn 
to his lips and exerted himself to the utmost to 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI. 267 

quaff the whole of what remained. But on looking 
into the cup he saw the liquor was scarcely lower 
than before : but a small part of its contents had 
disappeared. Thor then gave the cup to the cup- 
bearer, and would make no further attempt. 


268 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XX. 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 

HEN Thor acknowledged himself defeated 



* V by refusing to drink again from the king’s 
horn, Utgard Loki said scornfully, “ I now see that 
you are not so stout as we thought you. Are you 
inclined to try other feats ? though, methinks, if 
you do make the attempt you are not likely to bear 
away a prize.” 

Thor answered, in a sullen mood, that he was 
willing to try other feats of strength and skill, and 
he added that he was very sure such draughts as he 
had taken would not be counted small among the 
gods. “ What new trial of my strength have you 
to propose ? ” 

“ We have a very trifling game in this country,” 
returned Utgard Loki, “ with which we amuse and 
exercise children. It is merely the act of lifting a 
cat from the ground ; nor should I have dared to 
propose such an insignificant feat to Asa Thor (god 
Thor) if I had not observed that you are not what 
we took you to be.” Scarcely had he finished 
speaking when a large gray cat sprang into the mid- 
dle of the hall. The cat arched its back. Thor 
drew near, put his hand under the cat’s body, and 
exerted himself to the utmost to lift her from the 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 269 

ground, but he only succeeded in raising one foot 
from the floor. 

Thor would not try again at this task. “ It has 
turned out just as I expected,” said Utgard Loki. 
“ The cat is large, and Thor is small when compared 
with our men.” “ Small as I am,” cried Thor, “ I 
challenge any one here to come forth and try a hug 
with me, now that I am angry.” “ There is no one 
here,” returned Utgard Loki, as he glanced at the 
huge men seated on the benches, “ who would not 
think it beneath him to wrestle with you. But let 
some of my attendants call in the old crone Elli, 
(age,) my foster-mother. She has thrown many a 
man as strong and mighty as Asa Thor.” 

A toothless old woman now tottered into the 
hall, and the king commanded her to lay hold of 
Thor. The tale is brief, for the more Thor tight- 
ened his hold, the more desperately he struggled, 
the more firmly she stood her ground. The old 
beldame tried to trip him up, and the contest was 
desperate, but soon Thor lost his footing, and was 
brought down upon one knee. Utgard Loki now 
closed the contest by saying that night was drawing 
on and it was needless for Thor to challenge any 
one else in his hall. He then invited the god and 
his companions to take seats, and they passed a 
cheerful evening together. 

The next morning, at daybreak, Thor and his 
comrades dressed themselves and prepared to con- 
tinue their journey. Utgard Loki came and greeted 
them with the air of a hospitable host. He ordered 
a table to be set and well furnished with meat and 


270 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

drink. When the guests had eaten their breakfast 
Utgard Loki accompanied them to the gate of the 
city, and inquired of Thor what he thought of his 
visit, and whether he had met with any one stronger 
than himself. Thor replied that he could not deny 
having brought great discredit on himself ; “ and 
what troubles me most,” he added, “ is that you 
will speak slightingly of me, and call me a very 
weak, worthless person.” 

“No,” replied Utgard Loki, “now that we are 
out of the city I must confess the truth, and as long 
as I have power you shall not enter here again. I 
swear to you that had I known beforehand of what 
strength you are possessed, and that you would so 
nearly have brought a great misfortune on me, I 
never would have allowed you to gain admittance. 
Know, then, that by magic alone I have deceived 
you. When we first met in the forest and you tried 
to untie the wallet, I had fastened it with iron wire 
in such a manner that you could not find out how 
the knot might be loosened. Afterward you gave 
me three blows with your hammer. The first, 
though the least and lightest, would have put an 
end to my life had it fallen on me. I transported a 
rocky mountain, and placed it before me as a shield, 
which you did not perceive. In this mountain, if 
you examine it, you will find three glens, one of 
them exceedingly deep. These are the dents made 
by your hammer. In like manner were managed 
the sports and games at which you played with my 
people. In the first contest Loki was fierce with 
hunger, and devoured the meat ; but his opponent, 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 271 

Logi, was fire, and he ate not only the flesh, but 
the bones and the trough which held it. Hugi, with 
whom Thjalfi ran, was thought, with whom it is 
impossible for the best runner in the world to suc- 
cessfully contend. And when you, Asa Thor, came 
to drink from the horn, with apparently such small 
success, you did, in truth, perform a miracle such 
as I had never imagined possible, if I had not seen 
it myself. One end of the horn dipped into the 
sea, and of this you were ignorant ; but when you 
come to the shore you will perceive how much the 
depth of the ocean is diminished by the draughts 
you have taken, which have caused a depression 
now called the ebb. 

“ Moreover,” he continued, “ you performed a feat 
no less wonderful when you raised the cat, and we 
were all in deadly terror when we saw that one of 
her paws had been lifted from the floor. What you 
mistook for a cat was nothing less than the great 
Midgard Serpent which encircles the world. When 
you lifted him up he was barely long enough to in- 
close the earth between his head and tail, so far had 
your hand exalted him toward heaven. Your wrest- 
ling with Elli was also a great marvel. Elli is old 
age, and there never was, and never will be, a man 
whom Elli cannot, sooner or later, floor if he awaits 
her coming. But, now that I am about to say fare- 
well, let me add that it will be best for both of us 
if you never come this way again, though I can pro- 
tect my city by other spells, and it is not in your 
power to injure me.” 

When Utgard Loki uttered these words Thor felt 


272 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

rage swell in his heart. He seized his hammer and 
would have hurled it at him, but the king of the 
outer world had disappeared ; and when he again 
turned to the city, with the design of destroying it, 
it had vanished, and only a beautiful, wide-spread- 
ing plain lay before him. We are told in the prose 
Edda that Thor immediately resolved to make that 
attack on the Midgard Serpent which has already 
been related ; but in an older account the story of 
the Midgard Serpent is disconnected from Utgard 
Loki. 

I have already told you why Thor is a great trav- 
eler who penetrates into many strange lands. From 
the nature of the thunder-storm it is constantly in 
motion, traversing wide regions of the air on the 
wings of the wind. When Thor was silent in win- 
ter his simple-minded worshipers inferred that he 
had gone off to the far North to fight frost-giants, 
and the poets composed lays of the stealing of 
Thor’s hammer by some envious thunderer. The 
visit to Utgard Loki evidently takes place in the 
winter. At the end of the first day’s journey he 
lodges with a peasant, who, in the elder Edda, is 
called a dweller by the sea. The boiling of the 
goats in the pot for supper may possibly refer to a 
night-storm which the thunder-god raises at sea. 
The morning beams out fair over heaven and earth, 
and Thor, with his hammer, brings his goats to life, 
but one of them has fallen lame. The peasant’s 
son, Thjalfi, to get at the marrow of the bone, has 
broken one of his shanks. In other words Thjalfi, 
who, from his being a fleet runner, we may infer is 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 273 

the fierce, swift wind of winter, has dispersed the 
electric clouds and brought clear weather. Thor is 
very angry when he finds his thunder and lightning 
have been tampered with, but as the cold season has 
come he is obliged to stable his goats — the leaping 
flame — and his chariot with its rumbling wheels — 
the thunder. He leaves them with the peasant, and 
takes the man’s children, Thjalfi and his sister 
Roskva, to be his perpetual servants, as the thunder- 
storm is preceded and attended by strong winds 
and rushing rain-clouds. Like her brother's, Ros- 
kva’s name indicates great swiftness of motion. 

It has been conjectured that the huge giant 
Skrymir, whom Thor meets in the forest, is the 
transformed god of winter. His glove is the sym- 
bol of the cold season. He is a great sleeper, and 
a. tremendous snorer, which hint perhaps at the 
lethargy of the vegetable world and the roaring of 
winter winds and tempests in the Northern forests. 
Thor’s power is ineffectual, his goats have fallen 
lame, and his thunderbolts are of but little avail. 
He throws his hammer at the giant’s head, but can- 
not injure him, because winter is the time of illu- 
sion. It is nature’s time to work her miracles and 
weave her magic spells, to fill up valleys and 
cover precipices and bridge rivers and change the 
familiar aspect of the earth. You will remember 
that the handle of Thor’s hammer was shortened in 
the furnace, owing to Loki’s malignity. This per- 
haps refers to the fact that the hammer is powerless 
during part of the year. In midwinter Thor finds 

the haft too short. 

18 


274 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

The thunder-god and his companions pursue their 
journey to the realm of Utgard Loki. Here they 
are outside and beyond the domain of gods and the 
world of men. They have come into an outer 
sphere, which has a king of its own, and acknowl- 
edges not Odin and the Hisir, whose rule is limited 
to Asgard and Midgard. All that follows looks like 
an attempt to graft on the myth of Thor and the 
god of winter some proof of the superiority of a 
system of ancient nature-worship' which dealt large- 
ly with magic and all forms of deception, over the 
faith of the gods, which inculcated higher ideas of 
truth, honor, and courage. The thirst of Thor is 
due to the nature of the thunder-cloud, which is 
always eagerly drinking up vapor from the earth 
and sea. The fact that the old myth-makers imag- 
ined the ebb of the sea to be caused by the drink- 
ing of the clouds, shows how crude were the an- 
swers their minds suggested to the questions they 
constantly asked about the causes of things in na- 
ture. 

Thor appears to be vanquished by a series of 
tricks, though he really comes off victor in the con- 
tests, and the lord of Utgard is obliged to confess 
the fraud before he allows him to depart. The sin- 
cerity and uprightness of Thor’s character as com- 
pared with this sham deity is the proof of his god- 
head, and before this Utgard Loki is forced to bow. 
There is a curious resemblance in the names of 
these rival gods. Utgard Loki is the outer world’s 
Loki, and the principal god evidently, because he 
excels in the art of deception, in which Asgard’s 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 275 

Loki was very expert. It is possible that the 
Odinic Loki was borrowed from this crude old 
nature-god, whom the invaders found deeply rooted 
in the soil of the North, and, after a long period of 
change, was brought face to face with him, unable 
to recognize his father. Such modifications were 
constantly taking place in the gods of these peo- 
ples, who supplanted other nations, borrowed relig- 
ious ideas from the nations with whom they traded, 
or were welded into larger communities by the 
blending of tribes. Loki, who accompanies Thor 
as the electric spark, is vanquished in his contest 
with wild elemental flame. The world of Utgard 
Loki is a fantastic, false imitation of the world of 
the gods. It probably lies in the extreme North, 
where, owing to the transformations of winter, na- 
ture is most wild and strange. It belongs to night, 
to dreams, and to the fancy of disordered brains. 
The forms it presents are monstrous and grotesque, 
but they have no reality. When Thor turns to de- 
stroy the city of Utgard it has entirely vanished. 

This myth shows us that on his spiritual side 
Thor stands for truth. He is so genuine that the 
sham gods are obliged to confess to him. When 
he is forced to make .use of arts, as in the recovery 
of the hammer, he is ashamed of the deception. 
Without this foundation of verity, which made him 
so real to the Norsemen, he could not have been the 
great endurer, the mighty helper, the bulwark of 
heaven and earth. 

There is good reason to believe that Thor was 
worshiped by our remote ancestors, the ancient 


2y6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Saxons, although the mode of worship may not 
have been precisely like that of the Norsemen. 
Evidence of their knowledge of Thor is preserved 
in the word Thursday, (Thor’s day,) the fifth day of 
the week, sacred to this god. Among the ancient 
Germans he was called Thunaer, or Donar. 

Those who trusted to their own prowess in war- 
fare rather than to the favor of Odin chose Thor, 
the Strength-giver, for their favorite god, and at all 
sacred feasts and festivals they drank the first horn 
in his name and to his health. These horns were 
consecrated by the hammer sign. There were im- 
portant temples where Thor was worshiped as the 
highest god. We are told that in the large temple 
of Maeri, in Inner Throndheim, Thor’s statue had 
the principal place. It was very large, and repre- 
sented the god sitting in a beautiful car, to which 
were attached two goats, finely carved in wood. 
Both the car and the goats were placed on wheels, 
and around the horns of the goats was fastened a 
silver chain, by which the whole group was drawn. 
The god himself was decked with gold and silver. 
When Olaf Tryggveson, the great idol-breaker, be- 
held this work of Northern art, he was filled with 
astonishment. 

We know that the idols in the shrines and tem- 
ples were thought to be nourished by the food 
which their worshipers placed near them. This 
idea probably arose from the belief that the gods 
partook of sacrifices, and were strengthened by the 
food thus provided. This gross conception, which 
furnished divine beings with a craving appetite for 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 277 

bread and meat, may have grown out of the man- 
ner in which the ancients regarded the souls of the 
dead. They were looked upon as material, and as 
living in the tomb with the body, and we know 
that among the Greeks and many other nations, as 
among the Chinese of the present day, a regular 
supply of food was provided for dead ancestors. 

A curious story is told of a statue of Thor at a 
place called Randsey, in Naundal, which received a 
large supply of food and other offerings, and was so 
strengthened by them, that it could talk with its 
devout worshiper, whose name was Rand. Finally 
it gained power to accompany him in rambles about 
the island, and could raise storms by blowing in its 
beard. This sham Thor was fond of playing the 
game of drawing hooks over a fire, and at last 
proved that it was nothing but a, stupid block of 
wood by falling into the flames and getting burned 
up. 

Some very interesting popular legends are con- 
nected with the decay of Thor worship in the 
North. In a part of Norway, called the Upper 
Thellemark, there is a curious cluster of large 
stones which, seen from the water, resemble the 
roofs and gables of a town. One of these rocks is 
called the church-stone, and the peasants say that 
a church and two dwellings formerly stood in this 
place. In these two houses two weddings were 
held on the same day, and it occurred to the god 
Thor that he would go down and visit his friends in 
that neighborhood. At the first house where he 
entered Thor was cordially received. The beer-cup 


278 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

was constantly passing among the guests, and the 
bridegroom took up the cask and drank the health 
of the god/and then passed it to Thor. This gen- 
erous hospitality was very pleasing to him. He 
liked the beer, and went on his way to taste the 
wedding-cup at the next house. Here he was very 
well treated, but the people had so far forgotten old 
customs, and the worship of their fathers’ gods, that 
they neglected to drink to him in a general bowl. 
He dashed the cup on the ground, and went away 
swinging his hammer in a threatening manner. He 
returned to the bridal party who had offered him 
the cask, and placed them with their guests in safety 
on a neighboring hill. Then, in his wrath, he let 
fly his hammer at the mountain, which fell with a 
crash, and buried the other wedding party under 
the ruins of the house. 

But Thor’s power had waned. He was a god out 
of employment, who could only do an occasional 
stroke of business. In his fury he let his hammer 
slip, and as it had lost its power of returning volun- 
tarily to his hand, he was obliged to go down among 
the masses of rock and hunt for it. He threw the 
great fragments aside in his hasty search, and to 
this day the path through the rocks is called Thor’s 
Way. 

It is curious to observe in this popular tale how 
Thor retains the character of a great drinker, but 
instead of drinking the sea through his horn, the 
water-spout, he has come down to small beer. His 
anger and sorrow, in finding himself half-forgotten 
in the land where all had once been his worshipers, 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 279 

remind us of the lamentations heard along the shores 
of Greece at the death of beloved Pan. 

There is a story told of the way Thor presented 
himself to the great idol-smasher and uprooter of 
heathenism, Olaf Tryggveson. His father, Odin, 
also paid a visit to the champion of the new faith. 

As King Olaf was one day sailing along the coast, 
a man called to him from a projecting cliff, and 
asked to be taken on board. He was tall and hand- 
some, and had a bright red beard. The sailors were 
delighted with his jokes and stories, and his knowl- 
edge of the past, and finally they led him to the 
king. Olaf requested him to give a narrative of 
past events. 

“ I will begin then,” said the stranger, “ by telling 
you how the country past which we are sailing was 
in old times inhabited by giants. A general de- 
struction fell on these people, and they all perished 
at the same time, except two women. After that 
men from the East came to live in the country, but 
those giant women tormented and plagued them, 
and they could not exist in peace until they called 
on Redbeard to come and help them. So I imme- 
diately seized my hammer and destroyed those 
women, and the people of the country continued 
to call on my name until you, O' king, came and 
made havoc among my old friends, and vengeance 
ought to fall on your head.” 

He looked at the king with a bitter, sarcastic 
smile, and then darted like an arrow over the side 
of the ship, and was seen no more. 

The love of the Northern people for Thor is seen 


280 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

in the way they endowed Olaf, their favorite saint, 
with many of his attributes. Olaf, though he had 
no Mjolnir, possessed a red beard, and was thought 
to strikingly resemble the god in person. He had 
power over trolls, who, true to their old character 
of frost-builders, are said to have erected for St. 
Olaf the first churches of Norway. The reward he 
promised them for their labors was generally the 
sun and moon, but he always prevented them from 
putting the crowning touch to their work, and thus 
the reward was forfeited. This, you see, is the old 
heathen myth worked over to meet the demands of 
a Christian age. 

The people had a lingering tenderness for the 
old thunder-god after he had ceased to be power- 
ful. He is vaguely remembered still in many tradi- 
tions and superstitions which date ages back. The 
smooth, wedge-shaped stones found in the earth 
are called Thor’s wedges, which it is believed he 
hurled at trolls and giants. The peasants who live 
in secluded districts still tell you that the mountain 
jotuns are frightened in thunder-storms, and some- 
times seek the protection of man. Hundreds of 
legends refer to the fear of thunder experienced by 
dwarfs and trolls. 

The conflict between mountain and storm-cloud, 
summer and winter, light and darkness, has left 
distinct traces in those popular tales, the origin of 
which is now forgotten by the simple people who 
still half believe them, and tremble at the imaginary 
terrors they awaken. In some places of Sweden 
Thor was changed into a saint, and has a well 


THOR AND UTGARD LOKI — CONCLUDED. 2.8 I 

dedicated to him, called the Well of Heilige Thor, 
(holy Thor;) but whether he exists as saint or 
demon, he can be traced directly back to the im- 
petuous old nature-god, hot-tempered and prone 
to anger, but still frank and good-humored, and 
ever ready to fight and toil for the defense of 
heaven and earth. 


282 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXL 

NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES SICADI 
AND GERDA. 

HERE are three orders of beings among the 



-i- higher powers : the gods, the vans, and the 
giants. These three orders may represent three 
distinct systems of religion, which were wholly or 
partially blended into one. The union between the 
gods and giants was incomplete, for although the 
gods often married among them, an implacable 
hatred never ceased to exist, and the eternal war- 
fare of Thor and the frost and mountain jotuns 
knew no truce. 

In remote times strife also existed between the 
gods and vans, but at an unknown period a last- 
ing peace was proclaimed, and the vans took one 
or more of the gods as hostages, while the gods re- 
ceived some of the vans into their circle of deities, 
and they became gods by adoption. One of these 
foster-brothers of the Hisir was reverenced extreme- 
ly by the Norsemen, who admitted him into the 
trinity of three highest gods worshiped in the great 
temple of Upsala in Sweden. This was Frey, the 
god of the earth’s fertility. He was greatly beloved 
by the Swedes, and his place in the temple was just 
below that of the father and son. 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 283 

We are told in the elder Edda that Frey is the 
god of the year, the giver of cattle, the liberator of 
captives. In the beginning of time Alfheim (elf 
world) was given him by the gods, as tooth-money. 
He reigns over the light-elves, who are more beau- 
teous than the sun, while the dark-elves, who are 
blacker than pitch, dwell in the bowels of the earth. 
He rides in a chariot drawn by the hog, Gullin- 
bursti, (gold-bristle.) Frey was born in or near the 
sea, like the floating clouds, but he works in heaven 
and in earth, and for this reason the JEsir were 
obliged to adopt him. 

Frey is lord of growth in the vegetable kingdom, 
and brings peace and good harvests. Alfheim is 
given to him as a heritage, because the light-elves, 
busy little rays of sunshine, are ever at work about 
the roots, and stems, and blossoms of plants. We 
do not know why the boar was sacred to Frey, but 
it is thought to have been a symbol of fertility. In 
some parts of Sweden, even in modern times, 
it was the custom to bake little pigs of dough at 
Christmas, although the people had long before 
entirely forgotten Frey and the meaning of the 
symbol. 

Frey was the fruitful god who presided over rain 
and sunshine, and brought the verdure aad flowers 
of spring. He was dearly beloved by all classes of 
men, being the god of peace, and all simple and in- 
nocent pleasures. Warfare interfered with Frey’s 
functions, the tilling of the ground, the sowing of 
the fields, and the ingathering of the harvests. 
When the fierce Norseman grew sick of bloodshed 


284* TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

and scenes of carnage, he turned to the worship of 
mild Frey with a kind of rapture. 

Frey had a sister, Freyja, the goddess of love and 
beauty. - They were united by the closest ties, and 
worked together to bless the earth. Frey, the be- 
neficent giver, the food-bringer, and his glorious sis- 
ter, were peculiarly dear to the North, where the 
soil is cold and stubborn, the winters long, and the 
summers brief, though very beautiful. This loving 
brother and sister, who conspire to render the earth 
a pleasant home for men, resemble, in the closeness 
of their union, the Greek twins, Artemis and Apollo, 
the sun and moon. But Freyja is really the Greek 
Aphrodite or Venus. She represents the reproduc- 
tive principle in the animal world, which Frey sym- 
bolizes in the vegetable kingdom. Like the lovely 
Greek goddess she was born of the sea. 

Njord the rich, father of Frey and Freyja, was an 
important sea-divinity, whom the wise powers had 
created in Vanaheim, (sea-gods’ world.) He was 
given to the gods, together with his two beautiful 
children, at the time the ^Esir and Vanir exchanged 
hostages. Njord lived in a heavenly place called 
Noatun, which means, literally, the ship-meadow. 
He is the mild and gentle sea-wind, which gives 
good voyages to fishermen and coasters who do not 
venture far from the shore. He has a limited rule 
over the waves, but his dominion does not extend 
into the great: deep, where JEgir welcomes the gods 
every year at a banquet. He is called the rich god, 
probably because he possesses all the hid treasures 
of the sea, and has command over coastwise trade 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 285 

and traffic. He can speed the merchantman on his 
way and give him a safe and prosperous voyage. 
He was invoked by the enterprising traders and sea- 
faring men, who, grateful for his protection and the 
good weather he had provided, placed votive or 
thank offerings in his temples. He was the patron 
of all temples and sacred places. Perhaps this office 
was bestowed upon him because he was a peace-god. 
In time of war the altars and holy precincts were 
in danger of desecration from the foe. 

When Njord and his children were sent as hos- 
tages into Asgard, the vans received in his stead 
Hcenir, one of the creative gods. We have seen 
that Hoenir did not give full satisfaction to the 
vans, and in consequence the wise Mimir lost his 
head. Those who hold that Odin was a deified 
man point to the story of Mimir as a proof of their 
theory. They say Odin was a magician, who em- 
balmed wise Mimir’s head in order to make the 
people believe that it spoke to him and revealed 
the secrets of the future. It probably hints at the 
fact that Odin was the source of the magic arts, 
which in the North were looked upon with rever- 
ence and respect, owing to the belief in their divine 
origin. 

Njord represents both the elements of air and 
water which stimulate reproduction and growth. 
Frey and Freyja, his children, are the god and god- 
dess of birth and growth. There is a story repre- 
senting Njord and Frey as northern kings, who act- 
ually lived in some remote age of the world. It 
is probably as trustworthy as the account of the 


286 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

historical Odin. According to this tale, Njord 
reigned in Sweden and was succeeded by his son 
Frey, who enjoyed a very prosperous reign. The 
harvests were abundant and the people happy. 
After Frey died in bed his body was carried into 
a cave, and for three years the people were made 
to believe he still lived. 

I will now tell you how Njord married Skadi. 
You will remember old giant Thjassi, who got pos- 
session of Iduna and her apples by a trick, and was 
finally roasted by the gods in Asgard. When Skadi, 
the giant’s daughter, heard that her father had been 
slain, she put on helmet and corslet and came fully 
armed to Asgard to avenge his death. But the 
gods offered to make an atonement for him, and a 
very curious atonement it was. They gave her 
leave to choose a husband from among their num- 
ber on condition that she should see only their feet. 
The gods concealed all but their lower extremities. 

The giantess went busily around to choose a 
beautiful pair of feet, and at last a pair pleased her 
fancy, and she exclaimed, exultingly, “ Thee I will 
choose, for Baldur possesses few deformities.” She 
flattered herself that she was securing the young 
and lovely god of summer, but it turned out that 
the feet belonged to Njord, and she was obliged to 
take him for her spouse. The grim giantess, who, 
perhaps, had never smiled in her life, stipulated, be- 
fore making peace, that the gods should make her 
laugh. Loki, who was the clown of Asgard, played 
some funny tricks with a goat, and she was betrayed 
into laughter. 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 287 

Odin did more than he had promised. He took 
out Thjassi’s eyes and threw them up into the sky, 
where they were changed into two stars. But Skadi 
still retained her grim temper, and she and mild 
father Njord did not live very happily together. 
Skadi did not like Njord’s house at Noatun. She 
much preferred her father’s dwelling up in the high 
mountains of Thrymheim. But Njord loved to be 
near the sea, and at last they made a kind of com- 
promise, and agreed to stay alternately nine nights 
in Thrymheim and three in Noatun. Njord was of 
an easy temper; but when he returned to Noatun, 
his beloved ship-meadow, he sang this rhyme in 
Skaldic fashion : 

“Of mountains I’m weary. 

Not long was I there — 

Not more than nine nights ; 

But the howl of the wolf 
Methought sounded ill 
To the song of the swan-bird.” 

Then Skadi replied as follows, from the mountain- 
tops : 

“ Ne’er can I sleep 
On my couch on the strand, 

For the screams of the sea-fowl, 

The mew, as she comes 
Every morn from the main 
Is sure to awake me.” 

Skadi then withdrew into the rocky mountains, 
and lived permanently in her beloved Thrymheim, 
where she runs on snow skates and shoots wild 
beasts with her bow and arrow. From her home 
among the icy mountain peaks she sends very per- 
nicious influences to plague Loki, who was foremost 


288 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

in causing the death of her father. This Northern 
Artemis, (Diana,) fur-clad, and running on snow- 
shoes to shoot the bear and wolf with her shining 
bow, would make a charming subject for art. The 
whole myth is pretty and suggestive, and I think it 
means the marriage of the sea with wild mountain 
streams. Skadi comes to Asgard fully armed, prob- 
ably at a season when her torrents are clad in icy 
mail. She desires to marry Baldur, the summer- 
god, because her mountains are unfruitful and bar- 
ren ; but she must wed Njord, the sea, though with 
reluctance, just as the free, leaping mountain rivers 
must at last come to the plain and be merged in the 
great ocean. Njord visits Thrymheim with his 
tides and moist winds and clouds, but he is glad to 
get back as soon as possible to his warm house in 
the lowlands. Skadi glories in the life of a clear, 
rushing torrent, but she abhors the plain, and finds 
her husband’s home very humdrum and uninterest- 
ing. She loves the high, cold mountains with ardor, 
and in winter, when the upland waters are frozen, 
she is divorced from her lord and becomes a pretty 
skating nymph, and amuses herself with the chase. 
The allusion to her enmity to Loki is explained by 
the fact that when the fire-god receives his punish- 
ment, in the depths of the earth, and becomes vol- 
canic fire, Skadi hangs a serpent (the cold mountain 
stream) over his head, whose venom, when it drips 
upon his face, causes writhings and anguish. The 
taunts of the sea to the mountains, and the reply of 
the mountains to the sea, are highly poetical. 

Njord’s son, Frey, also had trials in courtship and 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 289 

marriage. One day, being out of employment, he 
seated himself in Allfather’s high seat, which com- 
manded a view of all worlds, and on looking toward 
Jotunheim, (giants’ world,) beheld a stately man- 
sion, which a beautiful maiden was just about to 
enter. She was called Gerda, and was the daughter 
of Gymir and Aurboda, kinsfolk of old Thjassi. 
As she lifted the latch such a bright radiance was 
thrown from her hands and arms that air and 
water and all worlds sparkled and glistened with 
the reflection. 

Frey had shown great temerity in venturing to 
seat himself in Hildskjalf, and, as a punishment, he 
fell deeply in love with the beautiful giant maid, 
and could neither eat, drink, nor sleep. No one 
ventured to ask him the cause of his sadness. But 
his father, Njord, perceiving the condition into 
which his son had fallen, summoned Skirnir, Frey’s 
servant, and ordered him to go to his master, and 
inquire why he was silent and depressed. Skirnir 
obeyed, and went in search of the melancholy Frey, 
and asked why he sat alone all day long in the 
great hall. It was with dread that Skirnir made 
this inquiry, for he expected nothing short of a re- 
buff. Frey replied that he could not describe his 
affliction. The sun shone every day, but not on his 
pleasure. 

“ Confide in me,” returned Skirnir. “ In Time’s 
morning we were young together, and we ought to 
feel mutual trust and confidence.” 

Frey replied that he had seen in the hall of the 
giant Gymir a maiden whom he loved unspeaka- 
19 


29O TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

bly, but neither the gods nor the elves (y£sir nor 
Alfar) would permit them to come together. 

“ Give me your swift horse,” replied Skirnir, 
“ which can bear me through flame and smoke, and 
your sword, which kills the giants of itself when he 
who carries it is brave and stout of heart, and I will 
win for you the maiden.” 

Frey made Skirnir a present of his horse and his 
sword. The servant rode away on his master’s steed, 
and he said to the steed : 

“ It is dark, and high time for us to ride over 
hoar mountains to where the giants live. We shall 
both return, or that mighty giant will capture us.” 

Skirnir rode to giants’ world, and to Giant Gy- 
mir’s hall, and found fierce dogs chained at the 
gate. He approached a herdsman, who was sitting 
on a little hill, and asked him how he could get past 
the dogs and hold some conversation with the fair 
maiden within. The herdsman grimly inquired 
whether he was doomed to death, or already a 
specter, “ for,” said he, “ you will never get speech 
with Gerda.” 

Skirnir bravely replied, “ It is needless to weep 
for one who willingly meets his fate, especially as his 
days are numbered.” 

Now the maiden Gerda heard a confused noise 
outside, and she inquired what was going on. Her 
maid replied that a stranger had arrived on horse- 
back, and was allowing his steed to graze. 

“ Bring him in,” said Gerda, “ and give him bright 
mead to drink, though I am very much afraid that 
my brother’s slayer stands outside.” 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 29 1 

Skirnir was brought in, and Gerda asked whether 
he belonged to the gods, the vans, or the elves, and 
why he had come through raging flames to visit 
her house. Skirnir then unfolded his message. 
He had come to demand her hand for his master 
Frey. At first she positively declined the offer, al- 
though Skirnir held out the most tempting induce- 
ments. He promised to give her eleven golden 
apples and Odin’s magic ring, Draupnir, which 
was laid on the funeral pile of the beautiful young 
Baldur. 

But Gerda steadily declined the proposal, saying 
she had plenty of gold in her father’s house. Then 
Skirnir changed his tone, and made use of several 
dreadful threats, declaring that he would cut off her 
head, and slay her old father ; that he would strike 
her with a magic wand, and bring terrible curses 
upon her. He would turn her days to wretched- 
ness and her nights to bitterness; she should marry 
a three-headed giant, or never marry at all, if she 
did not accept Frey. He pronounced awful male- 
dictions, declaring her life should be barren and un- 
fruitful, and calling on the gods to witness his oath, 
until at last poor Gerda was forced to listen favora- 
bly to Frey’s suit. She promised in nine nights to 
visit a warm and pleasant wood, called Barri, and 
there wed the lord of the year. 

When Frey received this message from his faith- 
ful Skirnir his impatience was extreme, so ar- 
dently did he desire to wed the giant maid. He 
had given up his sword to win her love ; but a time 
of great need came, when he found himself without 


292 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

arms. He fought a battle with Beli, and slew him 
with a stag’s antlers. Who Beli was we do not 
know. His story probably belonged to some lost 
myth. 

In the prose Edda we are told that Frey could 
have killed Beli with a blow of his fist, but at the 
last day, when the sons of Muspel come out to 
fight the gods, Frey will deplore the loss of his 
good sword. 

The explanation of this myth is very pleasing 
and simple. The story is told in one of the most 
vigorous of the Eddaic lays or ballads. Frey, the 
growing principle, lord of the year, and of the 
earth’s productiveness, being out of business in 
winter, seats himself idly in Allfather’s throne, and 
looks over the earth before there are any signs of 
spring. Afar off he sees Gerda, the bright yellow 
grain seed. The reflection of her arms in air and 
water is a symbol of the golden harvest-field. She 
lives with the giants, probably because, at this sea- 
son, she is torpid and inert, and therefore allied to 
the giant powers of nature, which are the do-noth- 
ing powers. Frey is violently smitten with her 
charms, because he cannot make the earth bring 
forth unless he unites with Gerda. His mourning 
and dejection is a symbol of the sterile winter earth, 
when poor Frey finds his occupation gone. His 
messenger to his reluctant lady love is Skirnir, the 
warm wind. It is Skirnir’s duty to drive Gerda 
forth into the air and light. But the wooing is 
difficult, because Gerda, before she has felt Frey’s 
genial warmth, is hard and cold. She does not 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 293 

wish to wed, and Skirnir, in order to impel her 
forth, makes the most dreadful threats. He vows 
he will .shut her up among the frost-giants, and de- 
bar her forever from the joys of germination and 
growth unless she yield-s to Frey. Frightened by 
the horrible prospect, the cold maiden is touched 
with the first impulse of life, and promises to come 
a little later in the season, for it is still too early for 
spring, and be the willing bride of Frey. Unless 
Gerda meets Frey in the warm wood, the buds can- 
not burst, nor the leaves and flowers spring forth. 
It is a beautiful allegory of the courtship of the 
ground and the seed. We cannot readily under- 
stand why Frey gave away his sword, or what is 
symbolized by Beli, who, it has been suggested, was 
Gerda’s brother, of whom she speaks while convers- 
ing about Skirnir. 

You will remember those cunning dwarf smiths, 
the sons of Ivald, who made Frey’s golden boar, 
and also his wonderful ship, called Skidbladnir. 
This was the best and most artfully contrived of all 
ships, except Naglfar, belonging to the fiery sphere 
Muspel, of which we shall hear more by and by. 
Skidbladnir is so spacious that all the gods, with 
their weapons and war stores, can find room on 
board. As soon as the sails are set a fair wind 
arises and carries her wherever she wishes to go. 
She is made of so many pieces, and with so much 
art, that when not in use Frey can fold her up like 
a handkerchief and put her in his pocket. In other 
places this magic ship is spoken of as the property 
of Odin, or of all the Hisir. It was originally given 


294 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

to Frey, doubtless because, being the god of agri- 
culture, he made trade possible between distant 
countries. In some parts of Germany it was the 
custom to carry a ship and a plow at the spring 
festival, and the connection is obvious. 

But Skidbladnir is essentially the gods’ war-ship 
and pleasure-boat. A maritime people like the 
Norsemen, ardent lovers of the sea, would naturally 
bestow a ship upon their gods ; and the manner it 
was propelled, by the wishes and intentions of the 
./Esir, make it more wonderful than a modern steam 
vessel. Its handy trick of folding up small and 
slipping into Frey’s pocket reminds us of the magic 
tent in the Arabian Nights ; and we discover in 
myths of this kind the germs of the wonder-lore of 
the world. 

The horse was sacred to Frey, no doubt because 
of its use in tillage. Horses, we are told, were some- 
times kept in his temples, which were, probably, 
little better than barns for stabling the gods’ steeds. 
In Throndheim, Norway, there was a temple in the 
days of Olaf Tryggveson, the idol-breaker, where 
Frey was devoutly worshiped. After the king had 
overthrown the god’s statue he upbraided the peo- 
ple for their stupid idolatry, and inquired how Frey 
had ever done them good. They answered that 
Frey often talked with them and foretold the fu- 
ture, and sent good harvests and peace and prosper- 
ity. The foretelling of the future by Frey indicates 
that he was sometimes regarded as an oracle. 

There is a beautiful little story about an ancient 
Icelander, Thorgrim of Gjobolwas, who seems to 


NJORD AND FREY, AND THEIR BRIDES. 295 

have worshiped Frey in singleness of heart. When 
Thorgrim was dead and buried the snow never fell 
on his funeral mound. It was always green, and the 
people said that the god loved him, and would not 
allow it to become cold between them. 

In Friday, the name of the sixth day of the week, 
we still may have a kind of record of the peaceful 
god, though it is possible this day was sacred to his 
sister, Freyja, or to the earth goddess, Frigga. 


296 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN — THE FENRIS-WOLF, 
HEL, AND MIDGARD SERPENT. 

I HAVE called trust in Odin the war-god, and in 
Valhalla, the heroes’ heaven, the central doc- 
trine of the Norseman’s creed. Next to Odin ranks 
Thor, the incessant toiler, the tireless endurer. 
These gods, in their later form, sprang from the 
excessive reverence of the people for courage and 
strength, and reacted by intensifying these ideas, 
which still underlie national character in the North. 
The sword still has multitudes of devout worship- 
ers. Odin is still the god of court and camp, al- 
though his name has faded from men’s minds. The 
low forms of courage, which are little more to be 
respected than brute force, still receive too much 
admiration and applause ; but, during the ages, new 
and better ideas of courage have been gaining 
ground. The highest admiration of the world is 
reserved for displays of moral courage in defense of 
truth and justice, instead of the physical prowess 
which butchers a foe or overcomes an enemy on the 
battle-field. 

Thor’s hammer has gained new meaning. It is 
no longer the sign of the god who can deal the 
strongest blows, but of the artisan, the mechanic, 


LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN. 297 

the worker of modern days, whose toil has made the 
nations great in wealth and enterprise ; and still, in 
a certain sense, it remains the symbol of the busy 
and industrious North. 

Then comes in the third god — good, easy-tem- 
pered, benevolent Frey — who caused the earth to 
bring forth in due season, and was beloved of the 
farmer, the shepherd, and herdsman, who made of- 
ferings to him of pork at Yuleftide and drank his 
health in cups of bubbling mead. 

Next in importance to these three deities we 
have the element of fire thought of as a god, and 
called Loki. The root of the word Loki is found 
in several languages, but I am not aware that it has 
yet been discovered just where our Norse Loki 
came from, or what nation or tribe were his earliest 
worshipers. Although many nations have fire-gods, 
this particular form of fire-god, so witty and yet so 
wicked, so annoying and yet so useful to the gods, 
so utterly unprincipled and yet so pleasant, is not 
met with elsewhere. Although at first he was the 
uncorrupted element of heavenly heat, he later be- 
came the embodiment of evil because of his un- 
equaled power for mischief. He brought forth a 
brood of monsters to curse the universe, even while 
he lived with the gods and was counted one of 
their number. They were arrayed against him, and 
often threatened him with destruction. At last, 
when he had filled up the measure of his sins by 
conniving at the death of Baldur, who was beloved 
by all nature, they chained him down, and he be- 
came volcanic fire in the bowels of the earth. 


298 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

In the beginning of time, when Loki was mild, 
elemental heat, he became the foster-brother of 
Odin, and they mixed blood together and took the 
vow of eternal friendship. He assisted Allfather 
and Hoenir in the creation of man, and was then 
known as Lodur. This Lodur, or Lopt, if he was 
borrowed from the aboriginal inhabitants by the 
Eastern invaders and adopted into the new religion, 
naturally became Odin’s foster-brother. We have 
already heard of Utgard Loki, (outer-world Loki,) 
a hideous, misshapen giant, who probably repre- 
sents physical evil, as the handsome and subtle 
Loki represents moral evil. It is easy to understand 
the primitive worship of fire by a people living in a 
frozen region like the far North of Europe. The 
fire-deity was an indispensable god, the sustainer of 
life. The Linns and Lapps were deeply skilled in 
sorcery and magic, and these arts seem to have been 
accompanied by some species of fire-worship, just 
as modern witches are supposed to congregate 
about fires. 

The Edda tells us that Asa Loki, God Loki, or 
Lopt, as he is sometimes called, is reckoned in the 
number of the JEsir, though he is known to be the 
traducer of the gods and the disgrace of both gods 
and men. The gods needed fire in heaven, although 
its presence was always a menace ; for no one could 
tell at what moment it might break loose and darken 
the celestial mansions with clouds of smoke and 
ashes. The tolerance of Loki, spiritually regarded, 
sprang from a deep knowledge of life and human 
nature, where good and bad exist together, even in 


LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN. 299 

the same breast, and the rain falls and the sun shines 
on the just and on the unjust. 

Loki’s father was the giant Farbauti ; his mother 
was Laufey, (leafy isle,) or Nal, (needle,) and is said 
to refer to the sharp pine needles, which crackle 
easily in a blaze. His brothers are Byleist, and 
Helblindi, probably different forms of what we call 
wildfire. He is handsome and well made, like the 
beautiful, glancing, ever-changing flame ; but his 
disposition, on account of his elemental nature, is. 
very changeable and capricious. He is crafty, sub- 
tle, and insinuating, and herein lie his power to do 
mischief. So long as he is controlled and kept 
within bounds he is a delightful companion and a 
useful ally, but he surpasses all other beings in 
malice, perfidy, and guile. He has often brought 
great perils on the gods by his tricks and his treach- 
ery, from which he has been forced to free them by 
cunning. His wife is Signi, or Siguna, which, inter- 
preted, means a water-course, or possibly hot- 
springs. Their sons are called Nari, or Narfi, and 
Vali, or Ali. 

Loki had also another family of hideous children 
by a grim giantess from Jotunheim, named Angur- 
boda, (anguish-boding.) She bore him the dread 
Fenris-wolf, or howler of the deep, who is volcanic 
fire; also Jormungand, or the Midgard Serpent; 
and Hel, the goddess of the dead, and ruler of the 
nine worlds of Niflheim. Odin and Loki, sky and 
mild ethereal warmth, were foster-brothers, and 
Allfather would never hold a feast in Asgard unless 
his dear Loki was present. He often took him on 


300 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

his journeys when wandering disguised over the 
earth. But a time came when the fire-god left the 
serene spaces of heaven and went down into the 
dark abysses of the earth, where he remained eight 
years, and where he changed his nature, and even 
his sex. He ceased to be the beneficent warmth 
of the upper air, and became raging, roaring flame, 
pent up in earth’s dens and caverns. At one time 
he took the form of a cow, and at another of a 
woman, and gave birth to monstrous children. His 
mind was seared, and he found a woman’s heart 
half burnt up. He became false and wicked, and 
the cause of all the unhappiness on earth. The 
fall of Loki from heavenly places to murky caverns 
is the change from purity to moral evil, from white 
innocence to black wickedness. The half-burnt 
heart of a woman and the searing of his own mind 
indicate the destructive, blasting power of the pas- 
sions when men yield themselves completely to their 
sway.* 

After eight years spent in the howling caves 
Loki returned to Asgard, and the gods received 
him kindly, and for a long time were patient, until 
his wickedness became intolerable. Loki’s fall has 
a deep lesson for the human heart, which has its 
own Loki lurking within it, and, though born to 
walk on heavenly heights, is too often dragged 
down into the abysses of the lower life. Still 
there are touches of his better nature remaining. 

* In the Norse fables of the wicked Loki, are partly embedded the 
scriptural revelations of the nature, fall, mischievous working, and 
ultimate doom of the devil. — E d. 


LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN. 301 

By his aid the skillful dwarfs make wonderful works 
for the gods. His evil, impish propensities lead 
him to try to spoil them, just as the fire would ruin 
what it aids in making if it could get free from con- 
trol. Until his wickedness renders him intolerable 
the gods enjoy his company, for he is a cheerful 
creature in spite of all his faults. 

When the gods learned that Loki’s monstrous 
brood of children by Anguish-boding were being 
bred up in giant world, they discovered, by spells 
and divination, all the evils they would bring upon 
them ; for though the mother was very wicked, the 
father was worse. Allfather pondered on this men- 
acing danger, and finally thought it best to send 
the gods to fetch the children to him. When they 
came he cast the Midgard Serpent into the deep 
sea, which encircles all lands. The snake has grown 
to such an enormous size that, holding his tail in 
his mouth, he now surrounds the earth. He often 
causes the whole atmosphere to quiver, and sends 
snow-storms and fierce winds and pelting rain. 

The goddess Hel Allfather cast down into Nifl- 
heim, the under world, and gave her authority over 
nine regions, where she assigns places to all who 
die of sickness and old age. Her abode is very 
large, and is shut in by exceedingly high walls and 
strongly barred gates. Her hall is called Elvidnir. 
Hunger is her dish, her knife is starvation. Her 
serving man and woman are named delay. Her 
threshold is a precipice, her bed is the couch of 
sickness, her bed-hangings are splendid misery, or 
burning anguish. She is half-livid, or black, and 


302 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

half the color of flesh, and therefore very easily re- 
cognized ; her whole aspect is fierce and grim. 

This is the terrible description of the goddess of 
death, born of the marriage of Loki, subterranean 
fire, with some principle of tormented and agonized 
nature, called Anguish-boding. The gods gave her 
rule over the cold regions of Niflheim, and finally 
her name became descriptive of all the lower world, 
although in Norse mythology her realm is not a 
place of punishment for the wicked. It was a 
cheerless and chilly region, assigned to such as 
were not so fortunate as to die by the sword — a 
place of negative rather than of positive misery. 
There was a lower deep called Nastrond, where the 
hopelessly wicked were tortured.* 

The wolf, Fenrir, was bred up among the .Esir, 
but courageous Tyr was the only one who dared to 
feed him. When the gods perceived that he grew 
rapidly every day, and were warned by the oracles 
that he would finally destroy them, they deter- 
mined to have a very strong iron chain made 
wherewith to bind him. This chain was called 
Laeding, and the yEsir took it to the wolf with a 
friendly air and requested him to try his strength 
upon it. The wolf thought he could easily break 
the chain, as it did not appear very strong ; so he 
remained quiet, and let them do with him as they 
pleased. But the moment he stretched himself the 
chain snapped in two, and he was loose again. 

Then the gods forged another chain half as strong 

* Hel and Nastrond correspond in large measure to the Hades 
and Gehenna of divine revelation. — E d. 


LOKI AND HIS' CHILDREN. 303 

again, called Dromi. . This they took to the wolf, 
and prevailed on him with artful words to be 
bound. They assured him he would win great 
renown by breaking the strong bond Dromi. 
Crafty Fenrir plainly saw that this fetter was ex- 
ceedingly strong, but his strength had vastly in- 
creased since he broke Lseding, and he knew if he 
ever became famous he must run great risks. He 
therefore quietly allowed them to bind him a sec- 
ond time. When the JE sir told him they had fin- 
ished, Fenrir shook himself, rolled violently on the 
ground, strained every nerve and fiber, and the 
chain suddenly gave way, and the fragments flew 
to a great distance. Thus Fenrir freed himself 
from Dromi, and the expression, “ To get loose 
from Laeding,” or “ To burst Dromi,” has, when 
any thing costs great exertion, passed into a prov- 
erb. 

After this the gods almost despaired of ever 
binding the wolf, and they sent Skirnir, (clear, se- 
rene air,) Frey’s servant, to the country of the 
swart-elves, who were marvelous workmen, to en- 
gage them to make the bond called Gleipnir. This 
was composed of six things, as follows : The sound 
of a cat’s footsteps, a woman’s beard, the roots of 
stones or of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the 
breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird. Women 
have no beards, cats make no noise when they 
tread, there are.no roots under stones or mount- 
ains. In spite of these facts the fetter was smithied 
by the dwarfs, and was as soft and supple as a silk 
cord, though of exceeding great strength. 


304 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

When Skirnir brought it to the gods they thanked 
him warmly for the trouble he had taken in their 
service. Then they conveyed the wolf to a heathy 
island, called Lyngvi, in the black or marshy country 
of Amsvartnir. There they showed him the cord, 
and asked him if he thought he could snap it asun- 
der, frankly telling him that the cord was stronger 
than, judging from its size and thickness, it ap- 
peared to be. The gods passed it from one to the 
other, and tried their strength upon it, but not one 
was able to break it. 

“You see, Fenrir,” said they, flattering the wolf’s 
vanity, “ that you alone are able to accomplish this 
feat. We are not strong enough to break it ; but 
you, if you try, can snap the fetter with ease.” 

The wolf replied that he did not think there was 
much honor or glory to be acquired by breaking a 
slender cord, but he added, suspecting a snare, “ As 
cunning and deception have doubtless been em- 
ployed to make it appear small and frail, I shall not 
permit it to be put on my feet.” 

The gods replied that he could easily break a 
silken thread, as he had already burst strong iron 
bonds. “But,” they added, “if you cannot rend 
it, you have nothing to fear from us. We shall 
then know that you are too weak to cause the 
gods apprehension, and we shall instantly unbind 
you.” 

The wolf replied thoughtfully, “ If you bind me 
so fast that I cannot free myself by my own efforts, 
I am pretty sure I shall wait a long time before I 
am unbound by you. I am very unwilling, there- 


LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN. 305 

fore, to have the cord put about me, but rather than 
allow you to accuse me of cowardice,. I will consent 
if one of you will place his hand in my mouth, as a 
pledge of your sincerity.” 

The gods now looked at one another in dismay 
and remained silent. Their courage was put to the 
proof, but not one durst reach forth his hand, until 
Tyr, the courageous, stepped forward and thrust 
his right hand in between the monster’s jaws. The 
gods now securely tied the wolf. He stretched him- 
self and pulled as he had done before, he rolled on 
the ground, and struggled and strained, but the 
more he strove to break loose the tighter grew the 
cord, until all the gods, except poor Tyr, whose 
hand had been bitten off, and who could see no 
joke in the case, laughed loud and long. 

When the gods were convinced that they had ef- 
fectually bound Fenrir, they drew the chain called 
Gelgja, which was fastened to the cord, through a 
huge rock called Gjoll, which they anchored far 
down in the earth ; and, to secure it still better, they 
tied the end of the cord to a massive stone called 
Thviti, which they sank deeper. The wolf made the 
most violent, though futile, efforts to break loose, 
and, opening his huge jaws, he tried to bite the gods. 
Seeing their danger, they thrust a sword into his 
yawning mouth. The hilt was driven into the low- 
er, and the point thrust through the upper jaw, so 
that it touched his palate. He then began to howl 
horribly, and since that time the foam pours from 
his mouth in such abundance that it forms a river 
called Von, whence he is also called Vonargand. 

20 


306 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 

There the wolf will lie until Ragnarock, the Twi- 
light of the Gods. 

When the JE sir were asked why they did not slay 
Fenrir, their great enemy, whom they had such 
cause to dread, they replied that they respected the 
peacesteads of heaven, and would not stain them 
with the blood of the wolf, although it had been 
plainly foretold that one day he would become the 
bane of Odin. 

By volcanic action Loki produces the Midgard 
Serpent, which is the encircling sea, and is the ene- 
my of the gods, because when upheaved by subter- 
ranean heat, it writhes convulsively, and darkens 
heaven and blots out the golden mansions. Thor, 
who lives in the thick black clouds, grapples with 
the serpent, but is unable to conquer or kill it. 
The goddess Hel is born of darkness, in those hot 
caverns where Loki’s mind was seared. Her father 
is elemental fire, but she rules over the icy world 
of death, and, perhaps, in some way typifies the 
passage from the warmth of life to the chill of dis- 
solution. This idea seems to be expressed by her 
appearance, for she is half the color of flesh and 
half livid. The description of her hall is terribly 
sublime. There is no other picture of death which 
excels it in lurid grandeur. The wolf, whose lower 
jaw rests on the earth, while his upper jaw reaches 
heaven, is volcanic fire. The gods do not kill him, 
because the terrible contest would stain their peace- 
steads, the serene spaces of the sky, with blood. In 
other words, the flames would mount up and red- 
den the atmosphere, and. be reflected from the 


LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN. 


307 


clouds in lurid colors. As a moral monster he can- 
not be destroyed until the appointed time. They 
content themselves, therefore, with binding him 
down in a volcano. They take him to an island in 
the midst of a black lake, which is the burning 
mountain, scarred and desolated by fire. The river 
of foam, Von, is the vapor pouring from the crater, 
whose lips are called Gjolnar. 

The chains and band with which Fenrir is bound 
are of two kinds : the iron fetter he easily melts in 
his fervent heat, but the silken string, Gleipnir, is 
made of those secret forces of nature, the invisible, 
silent laws, which we do not understand any better 
than the ancient Norseman, who compared them to 
things which have no existence and yet possess the 
deadly strength of fate. It was forged in darkness, 
deep down in the earth, and looked like an inno- 
cent, fragile string. This time Fenrir had met his 
match. He could not melt it, he could not break 
it. The more he writhed, the more it stretched, 
the closer it clung. 

The strength that lies in apparent weakness is 
beautifully shown in this myth, and we shall see 
another illustration of it when we come to the death 
of Baldur. The great forces work without fuss or 
noise. They work in atoms instead of great masses. 
They work by little changes, often too minute for 
the subtlest instrument to detect, but they are 
mightier than the tempest or the earthquake. 


308 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 

EARLY every mythology has a summer-god 



1 ll of perfect beauty and goodness, who dies or 
is slain by malice or accident, and is passionately 
mourned by all nature, until, in the lapse of time, 
he rises again from the dark ground in the form of 
the young shoot or plant. 

A striking example of the summer-god was 
the Greek Adonis, who spent a certain number of 
months each year with the queen of Hades, the 
under-world, and then returned to Aphrodite, the 
goddess of love and beauty. Baldur is the Adonis 
of the Scandinavians, and he also unites some of 
the attributes of the Greek Apollo. As nature-god 
he is lord of the summer weather, god of the bright 
brows, the spirit of warmth, life, cheerfulness, and 
hope. As mind-god he reigns over the innocent, 
pure heart, and probably would have been the cre- 
ator and inspirer of the fine arts had the Northern 
nations early developed a genius for painting and 
sculpture. But, with the exception of poetry, the 
higher arts were not yet born in the North. There 
is no pictured or carved representation of Baldur 
dating back to ancient times. He remains a spirit- 
ual influence, like the odor of some exquisite flower; 


THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 309 

and no myth, in the whole range of old religions, 
is more beautiful than that of his death. 

Baldur is ideal beauty thought of in the form of 
a young and shining god, with manners so mild and 
gracious that the whole world adores him. It is 
his mission to expand the higher nature of man by 
the contemplation of his loveliness. He is simply 
to be, and not to act. He has nothing to do with 
war or violence or effort. He is not a prodigious 
toiler like Thor, nor a great fighter like Odin. His 
influence is soft and stealing as the summer air. He 
makes himself manifest to the heart like Spring’s 
silent movements, which cover the ground thick 
with leafage and flowers. 

Baldur must be slain, because the cold winter is 
doomed to kill him in his natural form. In his 
moral and spiritual aspect, Evil, in the shape of the 
malignant Loki, who feels Baldur’s innocence as a 
reproach, will connive at his death. Baldur’s myth 
is the tragedy of virtue, which men worship with 
the higher nature while they slay it with their 
-bestial passions. 

Baldur was the second son of Odin by Frigga, 
the earth-goddess. The sky sheds its vital influence 
upon the ground which Thor has rendered fit for 
growth, in the form of light, heat, and moisture, 
and Baldur is born. In the cold, sterile North his 
birth is welcomed with rapture by all beings, and 
he is called the best-beloved god. No creature can 
wholly resist his influence, for he enters the senses 
and the heart in every ray of sunshine, every breath 
of fragrance, every sight or sound of beauty. His 


310 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER.' 

face, we are told, is dazzling and fair, and from it 
issue rays of light as from the sun ; and such is the 
beauty of his hair that the whitest of all plants is 
called Baldur’s brow. In Denmark, Sweden, and 
Iceland there are flowers which still bear his name. 
He is the god of wisdom and of eloquence, and also 
of justice, for no one can pervert or alter his judg- 
ments. He lives in the heavenly house called 
Breidablik, the abode of peace and purity, where 
nothing unclean enters. In Grimnis Lay it is said : 

’Tis Breidablik called 
Where Baldur the fair 
Hath built him a bower, 

In that land where I know 
The least loathliness lies. 

This clean, pure house, is the perfect serenity of 
air and sky in the most beautiful summer weather, 
when there are neither dark clouds nor violent 
winds nor thick fogs to stain the heavens and ob- 
scure the earth. Those recesses of pure azure and 
crystal are the halls of Breidablik, “ where least 
loathliness lies.” It is a very brief period of joy, 
and for this reason Baldur dies young ; but, by 
contrast with the long, interminable winter, its 
beauty has a magical charm, surpassing the loveli- 
ness of Southern summers, and Baldur is passion- 
ately beloved. 

Baldur marries the goddess Nanna, daughter of 
Nef, or Nep. She is the busy, active goddess, who 
incites the toil of the farmer. While her husband 
spreads a beautiful bloom on the hills and a glow 
over the waters, she is urging on the plowman and 


THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 


31 1 

the gardener, or is busy in the hay-meadow and the 
grain-field, among the tanned cocks and sheaves. 
Nanna is use, Baldur is beauty, and their marriage 
is, therefore, perfect. Their son is the god Forseti, 
who lives in the heavenly house called Glitnir, 
which is supported on gold pillars and roofed over 
with silver. The name Forseti denotes a presider 
or judge, one who arbitrates and renders decrees, 
and whose judgments are always righteous. He is 
born of the spotless purity of Baldur and the activ- 
ity of Nanna. Forseti lives in the gold and silver 
house because of the shining nature of justice. * 

All our interest in Baldur centers in his death. 
His life, so pure, holy, and calm, was without events. 
His evil genius, Loki, casts a shadow over him, as 
the smoke of fire can obscure the brightest day. 
They appear together in the tragedy of Northern 
mythology as the good and evil principles. It is 
strange that the shining young Baldur and the dark 
and sinister Loki have not found fitting representa- 
tion in Northern* art, for a more striking and noble 
subject could scarcely be imagined. But Loki ap- 
pears to have passed into a form of Satan, the wily, 
worldly-wise, smooth, and well-bred tempter, and 
perhaps we may detect some traces of Baldur in the 
guileless young man who, in thousands of Northern 
legends, loses his soul by dealing with the Evil One. 

Baldur the Good was troubled with threatening 
dreams, and constantly impressed with the idea that 
his life was in danger. He called an assembly of 
the gods in the doom-ring, and told them of his 
forebodings. His words pained the ^Esir deeply, 


312 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

for Baldur’s life was very essential to their happi- 
ness. A very mystical poem contained in the elder 
Edda, and called “ Odin’s Raven Cry,” is thought 
to express the anguish and unrest of the gods at 
Baldur’s approaching doom. They are filled with 
the dread of coming disaster, and they resolve to 
pray for Baldur’s safety in every danger. 

Frigga, his mother, made a journey through the 
world, and exacted an oath from fire, water, iron, 
and all metals, as well as from stones, earths, dis- 
eases, beasts, birds, poisons, and venomous snakes, 
that they would not injure her beloved son, Baldur. 
When the gods had taken all these precautions they 
imagined Baldur was perfectly invulnerable. The 
whole of nature was pledged to save and prolong 
his life ; and it became a favorite play among them, 
at their feasts, to get Baldur to stand up and serve 
as a target, while some hurled darts and stones at 
him, and others shot at him with their bows, or 
hewed at him with their battle-axes. For, though 
assailed in all ways, nothing could harm him, and 
the gods, by these sham assaults, thought they were 
showing great honor to Baldur. 

Although the life of his dear son now seemed se- 
cure from all possible harm, the heart of Odin was 
secretly troubled. He feared lest something un- 
fortunate should occur in spite of all precautions. 
Not being possessed of foreknowledge or prophetic 
power, he dreaded lest the happy Norns, or Fates, 
should secretly depart from Asgard. As this pain- 
ful state of foreboding could no longer be endured, 
Allfather resolved to make a journey to the infernal 


THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 


3 T 3 


regions. He therefore placed the saddle on the 
back of his horse, Sleipnir, and took his way down 
to Niflheim for the purpose of raising and ques- 
tioning a dead vala, or prophetess, whose grave lay 
close to the eastern gate of Hel’s domain. 

Here he encountered Hel’s terrible watch-dog, 
named Garm, a beast with bloody breast and jaws, 
that howled by Gnipa’s cave. Garm closely resem- 
bles the Greek Cerberus, the three-headed dog 
which keeps the door of Pluto’s infernal regions. 
Odin’s course was not checked by Garm. He rode 
on until he reached the grave of the vala, or proph- 
etess ; then, turning his face to the North, he sang 
magic songs and uttered powerful spells until she 
was unwillingly forced to arise and come forth from 
her tomb. She demanded sternly what man it was 
who had ventured to intrude upon her rest. The 
disguised Odin replied that he was Vegtam, son of 
Valtam, and he proceeded to inquire- why the 
benches and gilded couches, such as the Norse folk 
brought forth on festive occasions, were preparing 
in Hel’s hall. 

The Vala was forced to tell him that all this hol- 
iday show in the house of death was in honor of his 
beloved son, and she then desired permission to re- 
turn to her grave and to be left in peace. But the 
wretched father persisted in questioning her at 
length about the fatal events of the future, and she 
relates the manner of Baldur’s death and what will 
follow, and again asks piteously to be allowed to 
return to her repose in the grave. But Odin will 
not let her go. He inquires who those maidens are 


314 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

who do not weep for Baldur — “ those maidens with 
head-dresses flaunting toward heaven.” Whether 
this refers to the three Norns we are not told, but 
the question reveals to the vala the godhead of 
Odin, and she cries out that he is not Vegtam, but 
Odin, chief of men and gods. Odin replies: “ Nei- 
ther are you a vala, nor a wise woman, but the 
mother of three giants.” The prophetess meets 
this retort by bidding him ride home and boast of 
his feat of dragging her from the grave, and she 
adds : “ Never shall mortal visit me again until 
Loki shall have burst his chains and Ragnarock be 
come.” 

This wonderful scene is full of striking and original 
power, as can be gathered even from its bare out- 
line. The death of Baldur is a symbol and a proph- 
ecy of the destruction of the universe and of the 
gods themselves at Ragnarock. Dread of the im- 
pending misfortune drives peace and security from 
heaven. Odin cannot trust implicitly to the safe- 
guards which have been thrown around his son. So 
he leaves Asgard and rides down to the dark realms 
of death, there to summon the unwilling spirit of a 
vala by means of magic arts. He sees Death’s dark 
hall decked out in festal array, and his heart shivers 
with dread. The expected coming of Baldur the 
Beautiful has thrown an air of good cheer over those 
murky dungeons. Baldur is so pure and bright 
that the anticipation of his arrival in Hel’s abode 
changes the character of the place. This is a poetic 
touch of exquisite beauty. But the heart of Odin 
shudders at the sight, and by virtue of his godship 


THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 


315 


he forces the intelligence from the prophetess that 
Baldur is doomed, and the news fills him with such 
anguish that he taunts the vala, just as a person in 
great distress over some sad event feels momentarily 
angry at the bringer of bad news. The vala retorts 
by hinting at his own impending doom at Ragna- 
rock, and then goes back gladly to her grave. 

The second act in the drama of Baldur’s death 
shows us the evil Loki looking on at the sports of 
the gods with Baldur, chagrined because he is not 
hurt by the missiles cast at him. The fire-god 
could assume any form he pleased, and therefore, 
putting on the shape of an old woman, he went to 
visit Frigga, the earth, in her mansion called Fen- 
salir, (place of marshes or fens.) The goddess in- 
quired of the pretended woman if she knew what 
the gods were doing at their feast. She replied 
that they were all throwing stones or darts at Bal- 
dur, without inflicting injury upon him. Frigga 
was not surprised at the seeming miracle. Neither 
weapon nor wood nor stone, she said, could hurt 
Baldur, because she had exacted an oath from them 
all to remain harmless to him. 

“ What ! ” exclaimed her visitor, in astonishment, 
“have all things sworn to spare Baldur?” 

“Yes,” returned Frigga, “all except one little 
shrub which grows on the side of Valhalla, and is 
called mistletoe. I did not demand an oath of it, 
for I thought it too weak a thing — too worthless 
and insignificant — to harm Baldur.” 

Loki was overjoyed to have wormed the secret 
from Frigga. He immediately took leave, and, as- 


3 16 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

suming his own shape, visited the place where the 
mistletoe grew, gathered it and took it with him to 
the assembly of the gods, who were still amusing 
themselves in casting missiles at Baldur. Hodur, 
the blind brother of Baldur, stood aside and took 
no part in the sport. “ Why,” said Loki, approach- 
ing him, “do you not also cast something at 
Baldur?” 

“ Because I am blind,” replied Hodur. “ I see 
not where Baldur stands, and I have nothing to 
throw.” 

“ But,” returned Loki, “ it is your duty to do as 
the others do, and thus to show honor to Baldur. 
Take this twig and cast it at him. I will direct 
your arm toward the place where he stands.” 

Luckless Hodur, cajoled by Loki, took the twig 
and hurled it at his brother, and lo ! to the horror 
of heaven and earth, he fell down dead, for it had 
pierced him through and through. This was the 
most terrible event that, until that time, had hap- 
pened to gods and men. When Baldur, the beau- 
tiful and the good, fell lifeless, the ^Esirwere struck 
speechless with horror and lost all presence of mind. 
They looked at each other in dumb anguish of 
spirit, and were moved by a common impulse to 
take vengeance on him who had done the deed. 
But they were obliged to defer the punishment of 
this crime on account of the peacestead. The 
doom-ring and thingfield of both gods and men 
was a place held sacred from all violence and from 
the shedding of blood. When they tried to speak 
tears gushed from their eyes and the words were 


THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 317 

choked with sobs. Loud lamentations and wails 
were heard in heaven, and the deepest anguish took 
possession of all the ^Esir. 

Odin was more deeply afflicted than any of the 
others, for he saw more clearly than the rest how 
much the gods would suffer in consequence of Bal- 
dur’s death. When in time the gods had regained 
some degree of composure, Frigga inquired which 
of them wished to win all her love and favor by 
riding to the dominions of Death to make search for 
Baldur, and to offer the death-goddess, Hel, a ran- 
som for his return to Asgard. Hermod, Odin’s son 
and also his trusty messenger, promised to under- 
take the journey. His father’s horse, Sleipnir, was 
led forth for him, and he mounted and galloped 
away to Niflheim. 

• Leaving Hermod to pursue his journey to Hel’s 
abode, we will glance at some of the most striking 
features of this beautiful myth. Baldur’s bad dreams 
are undoubtedly the first cool, dark days of late 
summer or early autumn, when premonitions of 
the great impending change fill the earth with 
weeping clouds and sobbing winds. The whole of 
nature feels the touch of prophetic sadness which 
afflicts the spirits of the JEsir. Frigga, Baldurs 
loving mother, bestirs herself to avert the doom of 
her son by exacting a promise for his safety from 
every thing over which she has power, with one 
fatal exception. The bright warm days come 
again, and the gods, believing Baldur invincible, 
amuse themselves by casting darts and spears at 
him, which are powerless to inflict injury. 


3 18 TALES FROM THE NORSE- GRANDMOTHER. 

But Odin’s heart is ill at ease. He rides to Hel’s 
gate, and by magic raises the dead vala and forces her 
to reveal the future. The mistletoe, as you doubt- 
less know, is a parasitic evergreen plant, which contin- 
ues unfaded all the year. As the symbol of winter 
it was chosen for the slaying of Baldur. All nature 
was leagued to protect him ; because, as the bright 
summer-god, he was the source of infinite blessings. 
Winter, or cold and darkness, alone could do him 
harm. But there was no malice in winter. He 
was simply a blind god, negative in all his powers. 
He had no eyes to perceive the malice of Loki or 
the consequences of his own act. He is the shadow 
side of the bright half of the year, the dark brother 
of Baldur. 

Frigga’s confiding innocence, which leads her to 
neglect a needful precaution for Baldur’s safety, in t 
failing to exact an oath from the insignificant mis- 
tletoe, hints at the imperfection of her prophetic 
powers. She is not an intellectual or mind goddess. 
Although she sometimes sees the fate of men, she 
is tongue-tied. She partakes of the blindness and 
mental dullness of the earth, and therefore despises 
the weak and puny thing that is destined to work 
her endless woe. 

The myth is twofold, for Loki schemes in his 
demon character, as far as we can perceive, aside 
from his part as fire-god. He cannot endure Bal- 
dur’s innocence, contrasted with his malignity, and 
therefore slays him. 

Baldur, great and glorious as he was, is con- 
signed to Hel’s cold regions. He did not die in 


THE DEATH OF BALDUR. 319 

battle, and therefore could not be received into 
Valhalla. Like the decay of summer flowers and 
verdure, which sprang into life through his influ- 
ence, he, too, must take his place in the under- 
world. But grim Hel recognized his glorious na- 
ture by decking her cheerless halls with hangings 
and golden benches. The gods weep and sob and 
lament, filling heaven and earth with their woe. 
This is the touching way in which the old myth- 
makers idealized the storms and sad wailing winds 
of late autumn, while showers of dead leaves, the 
tatters of Baldur’s beautiful garments, are whirled 
through the air, and the clouds trail along the 
mountain sides, like funereal processions with re- 
versed torches, moving slowly through the sky. 

The slaying of Baldur is a vast symbol for every 
form of death, both natural and moral. It is the 
death of the year, the death of mankind, and the 
death of innocence and purity, which allows evil to 
get the upper hand in the world. 

There is here an intimation that the Norseman 
regarded death, not as the result of a great law of 
nature, which it is impossible to evade, 1 but as pro- 
ceeding from the malice of a powerful demon. 
Such a belief is held by many savage tribes, who 
do not look upon death as inevitable, but ascribe it 
to the influence of evil spirits.* 

* The Pagan belief that death has been occasioned by the malice 
of an evil demon, preserves the memory of the temptation and fall 
of Adam and Eve, and the consequent subjection of themselves and 
all their posterity to death. — E d. 


320 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 

P ERHAPS the most recent theory of the origin 
of religious ideas may be called the ghost 
theory. It teaches that every form of faith sprang 
from the worship of disembodied human spirits, and 
nearly every religious observance is traced back to 
funeral rites. The ghost idea, entertained by the 
lowest savage, came mainly, we are told, from the 
shadow cast by the body, and the apparent power 
of the soul to wander away from the body in dreams 
and trances. 

The soul was first thought of as material, and as 
living after death in the grave, or as wandering 
about its former dwelling-place. From this arose 
the custom of placing food on or near the grave for 
the sustenance of the ghost, which craves food the 
same as when in the flesh, and of providing it with 
clothing and arms ; and, in the case of a great chief, 
with companions and servants, by the slaughter of 
kindred, friends, and slaves at the funeral feast. 

We are asked to believe that fetish worship, ani- 
mal worship, tree worship, and, at last, the worship 
of the great objects of nature, like the sea and the 
sun, arose from the idea that the spirits of the dead 
had taken possession of them. The chief or great 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


321 


man of his tribe became the principal god, and was 
identified with some mountain, or other region, 
whence came the race. Dead ancestors grew into 
the first gods. Their tombs, where offerings of 
food, etc., were laid, were the first altars, and the 
temple itself was only an enlarged sepulchral cham- 
ber, adorned with statues of the gods, which, in the 
first place, were made to represent deified human 
beings. 

Undoubtedly the idea of spirit, as living in or 
behind natural objects and appearances, must have 
been preceded by the primitive man’s discovery of 
his own spirit. Belief in the human soul must have 
arisen before belief in gods and demons. We know 
that ancestor-worship existed along with such elab- 
orate systems of mythology as the Greek. If, in 
the rudest ages, the gods were human ghosts, which 
had taken up their abode in mountains and rivers, 
they were put there by the imagination of the sav- 
age to explain the mysteries of nature. They were 
answers to the questions the world had suggested 
to his mind. But if this be true, by the time the 
great mythological systems were formed the human 
origin of the gods was forgotten. They were, to 
all intents and purposes, personified powers of na- 
ture, and have no less significance as such than as 
if they had arisen in some other way. 

But it is as difficult to believe that all the gods 
of mythology were once ghosts as it is to believe 
that they were invented, as we now see them, 
by low and degraded savages, or were deceptions 
palmed off upon the ignorant people by priestly 
21 


322 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

artifice. We may say that the gods grew, and were 
developed through numberless changes and modifi- 
cations, and throughout long periods of time. If 
man’s own soul was the germ whence came the 
gods, they embody his wonder, awe, fear, love, and 
reverence for an unknown power the same as if 
they had arisen in some other way.* 

There are few signs of ancestor worship in the 
old Norse faith, but distinct traces of the belief 
that the spirit lived in the tomb along with the 
body of the deceased is found in the account, given 
in the last chapter, of Odin, who calls up the dead 
vala. Baldur’s funeral rites furnish the type of the 

* The apostle Paul, in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Ro- 
mans, shows, not only with historic accuracy, but with inspired 
truthfulness, how idolatry originated. Dr. Whedon pertinently 
remarks that “ in his unfallen state man deeply and perfectly knew 
his God with a knowledge of holy love. ... By the fall that knowl- 
edge and love became primitively dim and feeble. Then man, his- 
torically not liking the holy God, nor glorifying him, nor feeling 
thankful,” became vain in his imaginations. “ God being dim to 
their perceptions, their reasonings in regard to him became foolish 
and wicked. ... So that the twilight of pantheism first came on, 
and then the midnight of atheism or idolatry. In pantheism God 
became as a universal mist, losing his true personality and his moral 
attributes. Then the universal pantheistic mist was separated into 
parts, and the figures of finite nature-gods and goddesses emerged, 
and so idolatry arose.” — Whedon’s “ Commentary on the New Test- 
ament,” vol. iii, p. 299. 

“ In the progress of idolatry,” says Schlegel, “it needs came to 
pass that what was originally revered only as the symbol of a higher 
principle, was gradually confounded or identified with that object 
and worshiped, till this error in worship led to a more degraded form 
of idolatry ; for it should be remembered that as error is not merely 
the absence of truth, but a false and counterfeit imitation of the 
truth, it has, like the latter, a principle of permanent growth and 
internal development.” — “ Philosophy of History,” p. 198. Ed. 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


323 


Northern funeral, and are peculiarly interesting in 
view of the theory that all religious worship was 
developed from funeral observances. 

The gods tenderly took up Baldur’s body and 
carried it to the sea-shore. There, on the strand, 
stood Baldur’s ship, Hringhorn, which was called 
the largest ship in the world. It was the design 
of the gods to burn Baldur’s body on Hringhorn, 
but they could not launch it. We have seen how, 
on another occasion, their efforts were powerless to 
lift Hrungnir’s foot from Thor’s neck. Now they 
sent a summons to giant-world, begging a certain 
giantess, named Hyrroken, to come to their aid. 
The giantess came, mounted on a wolf, with a bri- 
dle of twisted serpents, and when she had dis- 
mounted, four men, called Berserkers, endowed with 
supernatural strength, were ordered by Odin to 
hold her steed, which they could only do by cast- 
ing it on the ground. The mighty Hyrroken then 
went to the prow of the ship, and, by a single push, 
sent it forward with such force that fire flashed from 
the rollers, and the earth trembled. Thor was so 
enraged at this mark of disrespect shown to Baldur, 
that he seized his hammer, and wished to break 
her head, and would have done so had not the 
other gods interfered. 

Baldur’s body was then laid out on the ship. His 
wife, Nanna, the daughter of Nep, wept and grieved 
so intensely that her heart was broken, and she was 
laid on the same pile with her husband. The pile 
was then lighted, and Thor, who acted as priest at 
his brother’s funeral, stood up and consecrated it 


324 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

with his sacred hammer. Daring the ceremony a 
dwarf named Litur annoyed him by running about 
under his feet, and he kicked him into the flames. 

There was a great concourse of people at this 
magnificent funeral. Odin came with his wife 
Frigga ; they were chief mourners. His two ravens, 
Thought and Memory, were perched upon his shoul- 
ders. The glorious armed maidens, the Valkyrjur, 
or corse-choosers, accompanied Allfather. Frey 
appeared in his chariot, drawn by the golden boar, 
Gullinbursti, (gold bristles.) Heimdall, the white 
god, came riding on his horse Gull-topp, (gold 
mane.) Freyja, the goddess of love, drove in her 
chariot drawn by cats ; and great multitudes of frost 
and mountain giants came to show respect to the 
good and beautiful Baldur. Odin laid on the pile 
his famous ring, Draupnir, which henceforth, every 
ninth night, let drop eight rings of equal size and 
weight. Baldur’s horse, with all his housings and 
trappings, was also cast into the fire. 

Here we see reflected, as in a mirror, the ancient 
burial rites of the Scandinavians. The body was 
placed upon a pile, with the arms, vestments, and 
most precious possessions of the deceased, sym- 
bolized by Baldur’s steed and trappings, and conse- 
crated by the priest with Thor’s hammer-sign, and 
then fired and burned to ashes. We learn in the 
old legends that human victims were sometimes 
slaughtered in the North to accompany the soul of 
the deceased, but in Baldur’s myth there is no 
trace of this cruel custom, for the wife, Nanna, dies 
of a broken heart. At a later day burial in stone 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


325 


cairns, and sometimes in ships, was substituted for 
pile-burning. We have a hint of ship-burial in the 
fact that Baldur’s pile was made on Hringhorn.* 
The portions illustrating funeral customs can 
be easily separated from the nature-myth. The 
gods cannot launch Baldur’s death-ship, and they 
call in the aid of Hurricane, who is of giant race. 
She comes riding on a wolf with a bridle of twisted 
snakes, probably descriptive of the wild, contorted, 
weltering clouds that accompany violent wind- 
storms. Here we have the first mention of the 
Berserker, the ferocious strong man of the North, 
who was thought to be directly inspired by Odin. 
The Berserker’s strength came upon him at inter- 
vals, and was probably due to sudden and violent 
fits of temporary insanity. In heathen and early 
Christian times he was the pest of the North. He 
could challenge farmers to fight for their land, and 
if they declined the invitation they forfeited, by 
law, their estates ; if killed, their possessions passed 
into the hands of these pestilent bullies and ruffians. 
When the strength-fit came on the Berserker was 
twelve times as strong as before, and when it passed 
off he became weak and exhausted, and was often 
forced to take to his bed. Some scholars tell us 
that Berserker means bare-sark, and refers to the 
fact that these men fought without defensive armor. 
Others would have us believe that it means bear- 
sark, or skin, because they clothed themselves in the 
skins of wild animals. The strength-fit came upon 

* The ships of dead vikings with the funeral pile upon them 
were sometimes fired and sent adrift on the waves. 


326 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

some men of good character, who regarded it as a 
curse. There is a beautiful little story, in one of 
the sagas, of a man thus afflicted, who looked upon 
the seizure with dread. One day it came in his 
way to save the life of a little child who had been 
exposed to die in the cold, and from that time the 
Berserker fits left him. These strong men, on re- 
ceiving Christian baptism, were almost uniformly 
deprived of their phenomenal strength. The new 
faith seemed to tame the wild-beast nature by dis- 
pelling some of the dark superstitions of the past and 
letting in the daylight of humanity. Let us return 
now to Baldur’s funeral. 

Hyrroken’s violence and rudeness disgusted Thor, 
who was, perhaps, the most sincere mourner, be- 
cause, summer being over, he could no longer exert 
his activity on the giants. He cannot harm her, 
but he expends his wrath by kicking the teasing 
dwarf into the fire. This dwarf we know, from the 
meaning of his name, is color, which must perish in 
the dreary darkness of autumn, when nature puts 
on robes of russet and gray. The flaming splendors 
of Baldur’s funeral pile are gloriously displayed in 
our October woods, where Litur (color) dies a won- 
derful death. 

The frost and mountain giants come in great 
crowds to the funeral, for even frozen realms and 
arid mountain-peaks, in spite of resistance, were un- 
consciously blessed by the bright Baldur. His 
death has been an irreparable loss to the gods, for 
joy and cheerfulness depended on his existence, and 
now the shining halls of heaven will be darkened. by 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


327 


storm-clouds and hung with black palls and all the 
symbols of mourning. Odin lays the ring Draupnir 
— sign of the new birth in nature — on Baldur’s pile, 
for although the cast-off raiment of Baldur, the 
dead verdure of forest and field, must be burned up, 
the god’s essence is to reappear upon the earth in 
new forms. 

Now let us return to Hermod, Odin’s messenger, 
whom we last saw wending his way down to Hel’s 
dark regions, to learn if the grim goddess would not 
consent to take an atonement for Baldur, and allow 
him to return to Asgard. He rode nine nights and 
days through deep valleys, (the valley of the shadow 
of death,) so dark he could see nothing before his 
face, until he came to the River Gjoll, which he 
crossed on a bridge paved with shining gold. Mod- 
gud, a female warrior, kept the bridge. Like the 
dog Garm, she was one of the guardians of the un- 
der world. She inquired Hermod’s name and race. 
The day before, she said, five troops of dead people 
had ridden over the bridge who did not shake it as 
he had done. “ You have not the color of death,” 
she added, “ and why do you ride the way that 
leads to Hel ? ” (not in the sense in which we use 
the term, but meaning the way to the goddess 
Death.) 

“ I ride to Hel,” returned Hermod, “ to seek 
Baldur. Perchance you may have seen him riding 
along this road.” She replied that Baldur had 
passed over the Gjoll bridge ; but “ there below,” 
said she, pointing northward, “ lies the path to the 
abodes of death.” Hermod rode on until he came 


328 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

to the barred gate of Hel’s dominion. Here he 
alighted to tighten the strap of his saddle, and, re- 
mounting, plied both spurs upon the flanks of 
Sleipnir, and made him leap the gate, without 
touching it, at one tremendous bound. Hermod 
then rode straight on to Hel’s hall, where he found 
his brother Baldur sitting in the high seat, the place 
of honor. He sat down and passed the night be- 
side him in loving converse, and in the morning 
sought the goddess of death, and entreated her to 
allow Baldur to ride home with him to Asgard. He 
depicted the extreme grief and dismay of the gods 
at Baldur’s death, and described the wailing and 
sobbing and loud lamentations that were heard in 
heaven. 

Hel replied that she would now test the rumor 
about Baldur, whether, indeed, he was as much be- 
loved as he was reported to be. She therefore 
promised that if every living and lifeless thing on 
earth would weep for Baldur, she would release him 
from death’s domain, and allow him to return to 
the upper world. But if any one thing or creature 
spoke against him, or refused to weep, then should 
he be kept in Hel. Hermod rose to depart, and 
Baldur led him out of the hall, and gave him the 
ring Draupnir to return to Odin as a keepsake. 
Nanna sent a veil with other presents to Frigga, 
and to Fulla she sent a finger ring. 

Hermod returned at once to Asgard, and report- 
ed to the iEsirhvhat he had seen in Hel, and the 
words the death-goddess had spoken. The gods, 
thereupon, sent messengers throughout the world, 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


329 


praying all things to weep for Baldur that he might 
be delivered from Hel. All things willingly com- 
plied ; men, beasts, earth, stones, wood, and all 
metals fell to weeping, as all things weep or are 
covered with moisture when they come out of the 
frost into a hot place. As the messengers were 
returning to heaven, rejoicing in the complete suc- 
cess of their mission, they found an old hag named 
Thankt or Thokt, sitting in a cavern. They begged 
and besought Thokt to help weep Baldur out of 
Hel, but she answered sarcastically: 

Thokt will wail 
With arid tears 
Baldur’s bale-fire. 

Nought, quick or dead, 

By man's son gain I: 

Let Hela hold what’s hers. 

The effort to induce all nature to weep Baldur 
out of the infernal regions was defeated. It was 
strongly suspected that the hag in the cave was no 
other than Loki himself, who was forever contriving 
evil against the gods. As the god of innocence 
Baldur could not then return to heaven. His death 
was the first act of a great moral drama, in which 
the powers of darkness were destined to gradually 
gain the ascendency, until they accomplished the 
overthrow of the world, and the destruction of the 
gods at Ragnarock. In the restored and purified 
universe to succeed this tragedy of nature, Baldur 
would again appear as lord of spiritual light. 

As a nature-god Baldur sends back to Odin the 
ring Draupnir, symbol of renewed life. Nanna also 


330 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

returns her attributes to the earth, and the earth’s 
handmaid, Fulla, in the form of a veil and a ring. 
Baldur’s death was avenged by Odin’s son, Vali, 
who, when an infant, one day old, unwashed and 
uncombed, slew the blind Hodur. Hermod’s mis- 
sion to release Baldur from Hel reminds us of similar 
stories in Greek mythology. He is the messenger 
of Odin, as Hermes (Mercury) was the messenger 
of Zeus. Hermes conducted the dead to the lower 
regions, but Hermod went below to plead for the 
restoration of a soul. Orpheus visited Hades to 
deliver his beloved Eurydice, and Herakles drew 
from the shades the spirit of the devoted Alcestis. 
All these lovely myths refer to the inert life prin- 
ciple in the cold ground, which seeks the warmth 
and light withdrawn at the end of summer, and 
which, germinating in the dark, comes forth in the 
glory of spring. 

We learn from Hermod’s journey that there were 
two ways leading to Hel. One through the earth, 
guarded by the terrible watch-dog, Garm ; the other, 
over the Gjoll bridge, connecting the upper air with 
Niflheim. This bridge must not be confounded 
with Bifrost, the tremulous rainbow which led from 
earth to heaven. Gjoll bridge was kept by a giant- 
ess named Modgud, and may be called the dark 
bridge, in contrast to the bright and shining bow. 
It is the mysterious, solemn passage from life to 
death, and the crossing over of whole troops of the 
dead presents a sublime image. 

We are told that Baldur’s bale-fires blazed on 
the way to Hel. We here find an intimation of the 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


33 1 


reason why it was customary to light fires at the 
tombs of ancestors. They were kindled to light 
and cheer the soul on its way to the under-ground 
abodes of death. The bonfire which is kindled in 
our streets on holiday occasions is one of the oldest 
remains of paganism. The bale-fire dates directly 
back to the Eastern sun-god Baal ; and to this day 
a beacon in the North is called a bale-fire. Fires 
belonged to the worship of Baldur as summer-god, 
because, at the end of the season, it was customary 
to clear the land by burning brush and stubble. 

The beautiful idea of all nature weeping for Bal- 
dur was probably suggested by the rains of autumn, 
when all creatures and things partake of the grief 
of mother earth, mourning- for her darling son. 
Nanna, the pleasant bustle and activity of summer, 
dies with her husband, and is burned on the same 
pile ; because after the harvests are gathered from 
field and orchard and garden she can no longer 
exist. 

Thokt, the old woman in the cavern, whose form 
Loki assumed, was probably fire hidden by cinders 
and ashes. There is a saying in Iceland to the effect 
that all things were willing to help weep Baldur 
out of Hel except coal. This explains the hag’s 
expression, when she says that she will only weep 
arid tears, in other words, dry sparks. Fire receives 
no advantage from the life of summer, and will suf- 
fer no loss at its death. 

The Druids, who reverenced the mistletoe as a 
sacred plant, seem to have known Baldur’s myth ; 
for, at a certain season of the year, it was the 


332 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

custom of the Druid priest to climb the oak, and 
cut off the mistletoe with a golden knife, saying 
that it should not harm Baldur. 

The infant Vali, who slays Hodur before he is 
washed or combed, is the new year ; and it is out 
of lingering memories of heathen traditions that we 
still depict him as a young child, wearing a bright 
crown, and armed with a bow. He is Baldur’s 
brother, because each year differs from the one 
that has preceded it, and must be born into a new 
likeness. 

When Christianity was established in the North 
some of the old rites and observances crept into the 
new religion, or were permitted to find a home there. 
The festival of the summer solstice, or death of Bal- 
dur, was made to coincide with the feast of the na- 
tivity of St. John the Baptist. In place of Baldur’s- 
brow, which had been sacred to the god, a new plant, 
Hypericum, or St. John’s Wort, was given to the 
saint. In England this plant was formerly thought 
to be so holy that it was used to drive out witches 
and evil spirits ; but at this day the young maidens 
of Lower Saxony apply it to a different purpose. 
They pin a sprig of it to their chamber-wall at night, 
which, if fresh next morning, indicates an approach- 
ing lover, but, if withered, denotes early death. 

We know there were temples devoted largely, if 
not entirely, to the worship of Baldur, for a beauti- 
ful ancient poem, called Frithiof’s Saga, describes 
such a temple situated at Sokn. This place was 
considered very holy. Baldur’s worship was pure 
and innocent, like his nature, and no violence or 


BALDUR’S FUNERAL. 


333 


uncleanness was allowed in his temple. Frithiof’s 
Saga has been given to the world, in a beautiful 
modern dress, by the great Scandinavian poet, 
Tegner. 

There is a popular tradition found, I believe, in 
Denmark, which tells us that on the right-hand side 
of the road leading from Copenhagen to Roeskilde, 
there is a well called Baldur’s Brind, which the god 
is said to have made to refresh his men after a bat- 
tle with Hodur. This well was produced by a kick 
from the hoof of his horse, in the same way that the 
Muses’ well was opened by a kick from the foot 
of the winged horse, Pegasus. 

Baldur seems to have been worshiped in ancient 
Germany under the name of Phol, as is gathered 
from a very old manuscript, wherein he is so called. 


334 tales from the norse grandmother. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

LOKI’S PUNISHMENT. 

HEN Loki existed as celestial heat, he mixed 



V V blood with Odin, and became his foster 
brother. The custom of mixing blood is exceed- 
ingly old, and still exists in a modified form. The 
German students sometimes perform a ceremony, 
commemorating the ancient rite, before they adopt 
the familiar “ thou.” We have a well known sym- 
bol of it in the interchange of locks of hair between 
friends and lovers. It probably arose from the idea 
that some personal virtue was transmitted with the 
blood, which enabled the receiver to share in the 
very nature of his friend. 

The same idea can be traced in animal transfor- 
mations. In the North it is still believed by the ig- 
norant that some peculiarly endowed persons can 
change themselves into wolves. This superstition 
is the most hideous remnant of the old faith. Odin, 
Loki, Freyja, Frigga, and the other gods, could en- 
ter into the bodies of fish, birds, and animals. 
Odin’s body remained in a torpid state, while his 
soul made excursions in other forms. 

The were-wolf was a human being, who pos- 
sessed this exceptional power. Sometimes he used 
a magic ointment to produce the change, and some- 


LOKI’S PUNISHMENT. 


335 


times he put on a wolf-skin or belt. There were 
others upon whom the seizure came unwittingly, as 
the strength fit came upon the Berserker. Only the 
eyes of the wolf retained a human aspect. These 
grisly creatures had the man and the beast nature 
combined. They ranged the forest, and killed and 
devoured all that came in their way. When the fit 
passed off they were exhausted, and sometimes ill 
-for several days. 

Mr. Baring-Gould, who has written a treatise on 
were-wolves, would have us believe that they were 
violent lunatics, with a craving for blood, who 
dressed themselves in beast-skins, and who ate the 
people they killed. Although the superstition may 
have been kept alive by such frenzied beings, who, 
perhaps, imagined they actually were wild beasts, it 
must have originated in the old faith, in the trans- 
formation, perhaps transmigration, of souls, brought 
in distant ages, from the far East. 

Loki was adopted into the family of the zEsir, 
and probably sprang from an entirely different race 
of gods. In the fragment of an old myth, still ex- 
isting, we hear of Forniot and his three sons, Hler, 
(the sea,) Logi, (fire,) and Kari, (the wind.) These 
gods are supposed to have belonged to the old Fin- 
nish religion, and in this Logi we find a hint of the 
possible origin of our fire-demon. 

In early days Odin loved Loki, and would not 
give a feast without him. He was useful on such 
occasions, and probably assisted in preparing the 
food. Fire was doubtless as necessary in the kitch- 
en of the gods as it is in earthly houses. He also 


336 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

amused the guests by his wit and buffoonery, as in 
the case of the grim Skadi, who was forced to laugh 
at his tricks. Loki’s comic side, which sometimes 
made him an amusing companion, was due to the 
sly, cunning nature of fire, which caused it to burst 
forth in many strange and unexpected freaks. 

Now, for some reason, which is not stated in the 
myth, Loki’s punishment did not take place until 
after the great autumnal banquet, which the sea- 
god, ^Egir, annually gave to the ^Esir, when the 
host brewed ale in the mighty pot which Thor 
had won from the giant Hymir. On this occasion 
the gods and elves were all assembled in ^Egir’s 
hall, but Thor was not present. The brazen-faced 
Loki was there, although he was 'an object of ab- 
horrence to the gods for having plotted the death 
of Baldur. ^Egir’s servants were highly commend- 
ed for their quickness and agility in serving and 
their attention to the comfort of the guests. This 
enraged Loki, for it was galling to him to hear oth- 
ers praised, and, in a passion, he slew one of yEgir’s 
attendants, nafned Funfeng. 

The gods rose in a body and expelled him from 
the banquet, and he was forced to flee and hide 
himself in the woods. But soon he came creeping 
back into the hall, and, stealthily approaching Elder, 
another servant belonging to ^Egir’s household, he 
inquired of him what the gods spoke of at the 
feast. 

“ They speak of their weapons and their bravery,” 
returned Elder, “ but neither the gods nor the elves 
ever speak well of you.” 


LORI'S PUNISHMENT. 337 

Then Loki determined to go boldly into the hall, 
and make his insulting presence known to the of- 
fended gods. When he entered, and the guests 
saw who it was, they all sat silent, and Loki spoke 
up and said that he was thirsty, and that he had 
journeyed a long way to request the gods to give 
him a cup of their foaming mead. Still they an- 
swered not a word, and he cried out with even 
more assurance : 

“ Why are you silent, gods, and sit so stubborn 
and tongue-tied ? Give me a seat and a place at 
your banquet, or turn me away.” 

Then Bragi, the god of eloquence and poetry, the 
good speaker, replied : 

“ The gods will never give you a seat and a place 
at the banquet, for they well know whom they will 
admit here.” 

Loki then broke out into terrible abuse of the 
gods. He reminded Odin how once, in the morn- 
ing of time, they had been brothers, and had mixed 
blood together, and carried his reproaches so far, 
that Vidar, the silent god, was forced to yield 
him his seat. Before Loki drank he sneeringly sa- 
luted all the gods and goddesses, except Bragi, who 
sat on the innermost bench. He poured out a 
stream of abuse on them all, and, at the very last, 
quarreled with Sif, the wife of Thor. At that mo- 
ment the thunder-god returned from a distant ex- 
pedition. He entered the hall with his tremendous 
stride, and threatened to crush Loki with his ham- 
mer. But the artful god made his escape, and, on 
going out, cursed JEg ir, and expressed the hope that 
22 


338 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

he might never more entertain the gods at a ban- 
quet, and that flames might play over his domin- 
ions. 

Now the time had come when Loki was to be 
punished for the death of Baldur and his detention 
in Hel. The fire-god’s cup of iniquity was full and 
running over. When he perceived how angry the 
gods were he fled to the mountains and hid him- 
. self in a house which he had built with four doors, 
looking to all the points of the compass, so that he 
could see every thing that passed on all sides. As 
he had the power of changing his shape at will, in 
the daytime he often took the form of a salmon, 
and concealed himself in the waters of a cascade, 
Franangurs-fors, the bright or glistening waterfall. 
Here he busied himself in divining and defeating 
the many plans which the gods had formed for his 
capture. 

One day, as he sat in his house with a fire burn- 
ing before him, Loki took flax and yarn and wrought 
them into meshes, like the fish-nets of later times. 
While thus engaged he was surprised by the gods, 
who, when he perceived them, were not far off. 
Odin had spied out his retreat from Hildskjalf. 
When the gods were near at hand Loki threw his 
net into the fire, and ran to hide himself in the 
river. The JEsir took possession of his deserted 
house, and Kvasir, who was more quick-witted and 
penetrating than any of them, on seeing traces of 
the net-work in the ashes, concluded that it must be 
designed for catching fish. He pointed this out to 
Odin, and the At sir set to work and wove a -net out 


LORI'S PUNISHMENT. 339 

of hempen cord after the pattern they had seen in 
the fire. 

This net, when finished, they threw into the river 
to drag the waterfall. Thor held it at one end and 
all the gods drew it at the other. But Loki was 
very cunning, and put himself between two stones. 
The net passed harmlessly over him, and the gods 
only perceived that something living had touched 
it. The next time the ALsir cast out the net they 
hung to it a great weight which raked the river-bed. 
But Loki, finding himself near the sea, gave an im- 
mense leap over the net back into the waterfall. 
The gods now knew where he was, and returned to 
the fall. They separated into two bands. Thor 
behind, waded down the middle of the stream and 
followed the net, while the others dragged it toward 
the sea. Loki now saw there were only two ways 
of saving his life open to him ; either he must risk 
all by swimming out into the ocean, or again jump 
over the net. He chose the latter course, but as 
he gave a tremendous leap Thor caught him in his 
hand. Loki was very slippery, but Thor contrived 
to hold him by the tail. For this reason the sal- 
mon’s tail is very thin and pointed. So says tra- 
dition, and who can doubt it ? 

The gods having captured Loki dragged him 
without mercy into a cavern, where they set up 
three sharp-pointed rocks and bored holes through 
them. They then seized Loki’s two sons, Vali 
(Ali) and Narfi, (Nari.) Vali they changed into a 
were-wolf, and in this form he tore his brother in 
pieces. The gods took the intestines of Loki’s 


340 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

children and made cords of them, with which they 
bound him over the points of the rocks. One cord 
passes over his shoulders, another under his loins, 
and a third under his hams. These cords the gods 
then changed into bands of iron. 

Skadi, the wife of Njord, suspended a venomous 
snake over Loki’s head in such a manner that the 
poison might fall on his face drop by drop. But 
his devoted wife, Siguna, stands by him and receives 
the drops in a cup or vase, which, as fast as it fills, 
she empties. But while she is emptying the cup 
the poison falls on Loki’s face, and he howls with 
rage and horror, and violently twists and contorts 
his body, so that the whole earth is shaken. These 
convulsive throes produce what men call the earth- 
quake. Loki will lie bound in the cave until Rag- 
narock, the twilight of the gods. 

JEg ir’s banquet, in the shining, luminous hall, 
which, perhaps, refers to the phosphorescence of the 
sea, was set and served like an earthly feast, on the 
old Norse model. The gods took their places on 
benches ranged around tables, and huge horns of 
foaming mead were passed from hand to hand. Lo- 
ki’s quarrel with the left-handed servant, whom he 
slays, undoubtedly has something to do with the 
elemental strife between fire and water. He is 
banished from the feast, and then slips stealthily 
back, demanding drink. His thirsty nature can be 
easily understood. As one of the oldest of the 
gods, who took part in the creation and mixed 
blood with Odin, he demands his seat at the ban- 
quet, which Bragi, the spokesman of the feast, de- 


LOKl’S PUNISHMENT. 


341 


nies him. But Vidar, the silent god, who was not 
made for strife and contention, is finally obliged to 
yield his seat, whereupon Loki’s wild passions leap 
forth like flame, and he roundly abuses all the gods 
and quarrels with Sif, whose golden locks, as you 
will remember, he had formerly sheared off, and was 
forced to get a new head of golden hair made for 
her by the dwarf smiths. As a crowning insult, he 
hopes that ^Egir may never give another banquet 
to the gods, and that flames may play over his do- 
minions. 

This story may, in some dim way, refer to a con- 
flict between the fire and water worshipers. The 
vans and gods are reconciled. Strife ceases between 
them, and they are welded into one system ; but 
Loki is an alien adopted into the family of the 
Aisir, and his old hatred for a hostile race of gods 
breaks forth in the peaceful banquet. His slaugh- 
ter of the servant, like the quarrel with Sif, may 
refer to the intense heat which withers the grass 
and burns up or disperses the clouds. The gods 
sit mute and speechless when Loki has the assur- 
ance to present himself a second time at the feast. 
They seem powerless to check him while he pours 
out gibes and taunts upon their heads. But the 
day of his doom is only deferred. The silent in- 
dignation of the gods is noble in contrast to his 
shallow and tonguey malice. We are not told why 
they deferred his well-merited punishment ; but 
their long-suffering was probably due to the fact 
that Loki had once been innocent, and had rendered 
important services to both gods and men. This 


342 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

seems to hint at the fact that the evil principle did 
not belong to the most ancient form of the .^Esir 
faith ; but the struggles of nature and the perils of 
human life, where decay and destruction and vio- 
lence were always at work, led our ancestors insen- 
sibly to imagine that there was an evil power in 
direct conflict with the good, and the dangerous na- 
ture of uncontrolled fire finally gave moral attri- 
butes to a nature-god who in the first place was 
destitute of .them. 

To escape from the gods who had suffered so 
severely from his evil plots, and whom he now 
had cause to dread, Loki took up his abode in a 
volcanic mountain where he could see all ways, and 
thus watch the movements-of the gods. But in the 
day-time, when the doors and windows of his house 
shone less brightly, and a gray column of smoke 
arose from the crater, he assumed the shape of a 
salmon, and secreted himself under the waterfall. 
The red color of the salmon and its quick motion, 
like the leaping flame, probably caused Loki to as- 
sume this appearance. There is an old Finnish 
myth which tells us that fire, originally made by 
the gods, fell into the sea in little balls, and was 
swallowed by the salmon, and, when the fish was 
captured, was found in its interior. This explains 
why Loki hid himself in the salmon. This fish is 
very difficult to catch, and the fisherman in pursuit 
of it wades up tidal streams in the same way that 
Thor and his comrades waded through the river’s 
bed in search of the slippery god. 

The gods transformed Loki’s strong son, Vali, or 


LOKI’S PUNISHMENT. 


343 


Ali, into a were-wolf, and he tore his brother Narfi, 
or Nari, (the binding,) in pieces, and Loki was 
bound with cords made from his entrails. This is, 
perhaps, the first mention of the were-wolf found in 
Northern mythology, and shows that the supersti- 
tion dates back to very ancient times. Loki was 
imprisoned in the volcanic mountain and bound by 
laws of nature stronger than his own wild, irregular 
being. The devotion of his wife, Siguna, is beauti- 
ful, both as a nature-myth and as a spiritual sym- 
bol of self-sacrifice, even toward the unworthy, who 
are suffering justly for their sins. 

Skadi, the wife of Njord, the rushing mountain 
torrent, hangs a serpent over Loki’s head, that the 
venom may drip down upon his face. This venom 
is the trickling water that steals through rock 
crevices until it reaches the volcanic fire. Siguna, 
who sits so patiently by Loki’s side and catc.hes the 
serpent’s venom in her vase, is the warm spring 
heated by underground fires. When her vase fills 
she is obliged to empty it, and then the venom 
falls on Loki, and he hisses and howls and writhes 
and screams, and earthquakes ensue. In other 
words, the cold mountain stream, swollen by rains 
or the melting of ice and snow, overflows the hot 
spring and rushes upon the central fire, causing such 
a rapid generation of steam and gases that the earth 
is shaken and torn by earthquakes to allow it to 
escape. Here is one of the modern scientific theo- 
ries of volcanoes very ingeniously wrapped up in. 
an old myth. According to the elder Edda Loki 
lies under Hveralund, (the wood or forest of hot 


344 TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

springs,) and his wife, Siguna, sits, not right glad, 
with him. 

At Ragnarock, Loki and his child, the wolf Fenrir, 
both of them forms of subterranean or volcanic fire, 
will be released from bondage and become active 
agents of destruction. In many old religions we 
find traces of a belief that the world is finally to be 
destroyed by fire and thus reduced to the condi- 
tion of a black and lifeless cinder. The existence 
of volcanoes, those chimneys of the earth’s internal 
furnace, may have originated the idea. But mod- 
ern science assures us that, though the earth was 
once red hot, it has been gradually cooling through 
unnumbered ages, and may one day become too 
cold to support life and in all respects like the pres- 
ent condition of the moon, which is a mere torpid, 
frozen mass of matter whirling about our planet. 
But to the ancients the idea of the destruction of 
the earth from the breaking out of internal fires 
was familiar and natural.* 

Although Loki is not the most important, he is 
the most original, figure in Northern mythology. 
The people were dependent upon him for comfort 
and even life ; but his wild, incalculable nature made 


* The Jews have a tradition that it was revealed to Adam that 
the world should be destroyed twice— first by water and then by fire, 
That it is to be eventually destroyed by the instrumentality of fire is 
scientifically probable in the estimation of many learned astrono- 
mers. That it will certainly be thus destroyed admits of no doubt 
in Christian minds in view of what the Apostle Peter wrote in his 
Second General Epistle, iii, io: “The elements shall melt with 
fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
burned up.” — E d. 


LORI'S PUNISHMENT. 


345 


his escapades and adventures the dread of the 
world, especially in winter, when the streams were 
frozen and there was no water at hand to put out 
the flames. When Loki went down into the earth’s 
abysses, filled with boiling, seething flame, he grew 
hopelessly evil, and lost his place in the trinity of 
gods, who had completed the work of creation by 
making man. He then assumed the character of a 
sprite or demon. His power of changing his form, 
his astonishing tricks and mimicry, made him the 
clown of the gods ; but his witty side had scarcely 
a touch of good nature. He was always crafty, 
treacherous, and essentially wicked. In the crea- 
tion of man you will remember Lodur, Loki gave 
the red color and motion to the blood, vital heat, 
and the warmth of the animal nature. 

Many ideas attaching to the heathen Loki seem 
to have passed over to the popular Northern idea 
of the devil. The red flame color of his dress, and 
the flashes of fire from his dreadful eyes, show that he 
is a near relative of the ancient fire-god. The beast 
foot and the tail are later additions, or may have 
been grafted on to the conception from some linger- 
ing memories of a remote animal worship. There is 
also another difference to be pointed out — the devil 
of Northern folk-stories is often outwitted in his 
dealings with human beings, and appears in the 
light of a clumsy, stupid fiend ; but Loki always has 
his wits about him, and is plausible enough to 
deceive the gods. When at last they lay hold of 
him he is obliged to yield, for they express law and 
order, the regulating and binding powers of the 


346 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

world, while Loki was looked upon as the irrespon- 
sible principle of nature. 

Loki was born in a leafy place, of his mother, dry 
foliage, and his father, the wind. His brothers 
were devastation and ruin. All his adventures 
point more or less directly to his nature. At one 
time he flutters along a wall like a bird, and peeps 
in at a window ; but he cannot fly away, because 
his feet are clogged. He is earthly fire. His name, 
Loptur, signifies the ethereal, and when he assumes 
the form of heavenly fire he is driven by storm- 
winds, and flies over the forest or is dragged over 
stones and rough ground. But his flights are not 
long. He must come down to earth to find food, 
and he allows himself to be shut up and almost 
starved. Then he lives only as a spark in a bed of 
ashes. His lips are sewed up, but he is not killed ; 
his heart glows in the form of a live coal until he 
goes into the abyss, and brings forth children with 
a giantess, the hidden metal. Then his heart is 
burned up and appears in the form of slag and cin- 
ders thrown from a furnace. 

Could we get at the very heart of the Loki myth 
we might possibly discover nearly all the old Norse- 
man thought and felt about the great mystery of 
evil, which pressed so hard upon him from an arctic 
climate and barren soil, and in the form of wild 
beasts swarming in the forest, and of savage human 
foes. We cannot wonder that his faith was dark- 
ened by the shadow of fatalism, or that Loki grew 
to be a very powerful and active agent in the affairs 
of life. Out of myths long lifeless, but which once 


LUKES PUNISHMENT. 


347 


lived in human hearts and in human action, we may 
still draw some consolation. We may even light a 
torch of hope at the bale-fire, the evil Loki, seeing 
that he was not created bad, but became so through 
the working of his evil passions in dark abysses, 
and might perhaps again climb to innocence and 
purity in the clear spaces of the sky. 

There are still some traces of Loki to be met in 
Northern traditions. When the fire crackles on the 
hearth the Norwegian house-mother tells her little 
ones that Loki is whipping his children. When the 
sun draws water the peasants say that Loki is 
drinking. They also believe he has the power to 
raise vapors, and when a peculiar tremulous motion 
is imparted to the air they say Loki is sowing his 
oats in the grain fields. When a fire breaks out 
they call it the red cock which crows over the roofs 
of the houses. 


348 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 

HE sublime myth of Ragnarock is probably 



-L based on the severe and violent change of 
season in the North, where the brief summer and 
the long winter seem in perpetual conflict. The 
encroachments of winter, in exceptionally hard 
years, and its apparent victory over light and 
warmth, may have led to the belief that the pres- 
ent form of the universe was limited, and a general 
destruction might be looked for to prepare crea- 
tion for a new birth. As summer seemed so often 
worsted in the battle, a natural dread and expecta- 
tion arose that it would finally be killed, and thus 
came into being the myth of the slaying of Baldur, 
the first act in the great drama of universal ruin. 

After Baldur was killed thick ice formed upon 
the earth, snow-storms raged with fury, whirlwinds 
of sleet and hail were let loose, and darkness and 
horror prevailed. It ought to be remarked that 
the long winter of the Edda corresponds to the 
glacial period, which geologists tell us at one time 
plated large portions of the earth’s surface with a 
solid armor of ice. This terrible time, which prob- 
ably existed, in fact, some millions of years ago, 
the poets and old myth-makers created from the 


THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 349 

imagination and the reality of the Northern win- 
ter. 

The ancients saw fire spouting from the craters 
of volcanoes, and they symbolized it under the 
form of a demon, and his child, the all-devouring 
wolf. It was the great enemy chained for a time, 
but which would one day break loose and burn up 
the earth, and send rolling clouds of smoke and 
tongues of flame up to heaven to burn and blacken 
the shining houses of the gods. But fire is not the 
only agent of destruction released on this dread 
day. The Midgard Serpent will overwhelm the 
land, and the powers of darkness unite with fire 
and water. Terrible days will befall human kind : 
“ Great abominations there shall be : an axe-tide, a 
sword-tide ; shields shall be cloven ; a wind-tide, a 
wolf-tide, ere the world perishes ; no man will then 
spare his brother.” 

The elder Edda goes on to tell us that Loki lay 
chained under the hot spring’s grove. In the iron 
forest, east of Midgard, the old giantess brought 
forth Fenrir’s progeny, one of which, named Skoll, 
will pursue the sun to the encircling ocean. The 
other, Hati, Hrodvitnir’s son, called also Managarm, 
will run before the sun, and will swallow up the 
moon. He will be sated with the lives of the dy- 
ing. On a height will sit the giantess, watching 
the dauntless Egdir (eagle) strike his harp. Over 
him, in the bird-wood, will crow the light red cock. 
Over the gods will crow the gold-combed cock that 
wakens heroes in Odin’s hall. But a soot-red cock 
will crow beneath the earth in Hel’s abode. Glad 


350 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

shall the eagle scream, and with his pale beak tear 
corpses. Loki will steer Naglfar. All Jotunheim 
resounds. The dwarfs moan before their stony 
doors. The stone mountains crack, the giantesses 
stumble. Then shall come Hlin’s (Frigga’s) second 
sorrow, (Baldur’s death was the first.) Then shall 
all men their homes forsake. Smoky clouds shall 
encircle the all-nourishing tree, Yggdrasill. 

There are strong points of sublimity and pathos 
in this description, and it is well ,to note the terri- 
ble image of the wolf sated with the lives of the 
dying, of the screaming eagle that tears corpses 
with its pale beak, and of the dwarfs, moaning and 
helpless before their stony doors. 

The gods and heroes of Valhalla come forth 
cheerfully to fight their foes in the last day, al- 
though the Fates had long since foretold their down- 
fall. They ride forth to the last conflict with brave, 
high looks and bold hearts. There is nothing more 
beautiful and suggestive in all mythology than the 
courage of these gods spurring forth to death, un- 
der the shadow of a relentless destiny. The Odinic 
system of faith must perish, because it contains the 
seeds of decay. It is based on the idea of conflict, 
both in nature and in life and in the human heart, 
and the high aim of creation is peace on earth, 
good-will to men, which shall come after the old 
order has perished. Odin dies, but Vidar and Vali 
still live. Vidar is the imperishable, silent power 
in water, earth, and air, which brings all things to 
pass without noise or tumult. Vidar must operate 
in the new world as he did in the old, for nothing 


THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 35 I 

can exist without his quiet force. Vali is the tri- 
umphant new year, eternal youth, that steps into 
the place of decrepit age, and restores the world. 
Baldur, the golden-browed summer, again appears 
and lives in harmony with his blind brother, Hodur. 
Thor perishes, but he leaves his children to the re- 
generated world. Conflict and endurance, which he 
typified, are at an end, and only Modi and Magni, 
young courage and strength, remain in nature. 

Hoenir also lives, who is the creative spiritual 
power, and operates in the soul, as Vidar acts in 
the natural world. When the great battle is over, 
the ever-living gods will gather in Gimli, the stain- 
less heaven, as clear as crystal. They will gather 
to the sound of trumpets, and the mighty and eter- 
nal One, who is greater than Odin, and whose exist- 
ence is more than once referred to in the Edda, will 
sit in judgment. Then men will live in peace with 
their old enemies — the giants and elves — and a final 
separation will take place between the good and 
evil. Glorious rewards await the righteous, but the 
wicked are reserved for dire punishments. 

We will now return to the sublime and terrible 
description of Ragnarock, or the Norse doomsday. 
In the beginning, the Edda tells us, will come a 
winter, called Fimbul-winter, during which snow 
will fall from the four quarters of the globe, the 
frosts will be terrible, the wind piercing, and the 
weather convulsed by storms and tempests. In 
those days the sun will impart no gladness. Three 
such fearful winters will pass, without one summer 
to mel-t the icy fetters. Three other winters of a 


352 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

like kind will follow, during which war and carnage 
will fill the earth. Brothers for gain shall kill each 
other, and no man for mercy will spare either his 
parents or his children. In Voluspd, one of the 
Eddaic poems, it is said: 

Then shall brethren be 
Each other’s bane, 

And sister’s children rend 
The ties of kin ; 

Hard will be the age, 

And harlotry prevail. 

An ax-age, a sword-age, 

Shields oft cleft in twain ; 

A storm-age, a wolf-age, 

Ere earth shall meet its doom. 

Then terrible prodigies shall be seen in the earth. 
One wolf shall swallow the sun, and a great loss 
will that be to man, and the other shall devour the 
moon. This also will be a great disaster. The 
stars will disappear from heaven. Then all that 
binds the solid earth together will be loosened. It 
will be violently shaken. Trees will be torn up by 
the roots, and mountains will come tumbling down 
upon the plain. The Fenris-wolf will then break 
loose, and the sea will tear its way over the land, 
because the Midgard Serpent will writhe with all 
its might and come to shore. 

Then on the waters will float the death ship, 
Naglfar, which is made of dead people’s nails. For 
this reason it should be remembered that when any 
one dies with uncut nails he helps to build Naglfar, 
the completion of which both gods and men desire 
to put off as long as possible. In this world-flood 


THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 353 

Naglfar will float, steered by the giant Hrym. The 
Fenris-wolf will go forth with his enormous mouth 
distended. The lower jaw reaches to the earth and 
the upper jaw to heaven. If there were room the 
wolf would gape even more widely. Fire flames 
from his eyes and nostrils. The Midgard Serpent 
takes his stand by the side of the wolf, and vomits 
out floods of venom. 

During the destruction heaven is cleft in two, and 
through the gap ride the sons of Muspel. Surtur 
rides first, and both before and behind him fire 
flames. His sword outshines the brightness of the 
sun. As Muspel’s sons ride over Bifrost, it will break 
in pieces. They will take their way to the battle 
plain, called Vigrid. There will come also the Fen- 
ris-wolf and the Midgard Serpent. Loki will come 
there, and the giant Hrym with all the frost-giants. 
All the friends of the death-goddess, Hel, will fol- 
low Loki, but the sons of Muspel will keep their 
bright battalions apart from the others on the field 
of battle. 

Vigrid’s plain is a hundred miles each way. When 
these events have taken place, Heimdall, the white 
god, guardian of heaven, stands up and blows with 
all his might on Giallar-horn to summon every 
god to the assembly. Odin then rides to Mimir’s 
Well, the fountain of earthly inspiration, to consult 
with Mimir as to how he and his warriors shall en- 
ter into action. Then the great ash, Yggdrasill, 
trembles, and in this awful hour nothing in heaven 
or on earth is saved from dread. 

The gods and all the Einherjar, or chosen heroes, 
23 


354 tales from the norse grandmother. 

speed forth to the battle-field, led by Odin, clad in 
his golden helmet and shining corselet, and grasping 
his mighty spear, Gungnir. Odin places himself to 
fight the Fenris-wolf. Thor will be at his side, but 
he cannot help him because he is obliged to engage 
with the Midgard Serpent. Frey, the god of the 
fruitful earth, will fight with Surtur, and, after a 
terrible struggle, will fall. His defeat will be due to 
the lack of his good sword, which you will remem- 
ber he gave to Skirnir. Then will Garm, bound in 
Ginpa’s cave, the hound of Hel, be let loose. He 
is the most terrible monster of them all, and will 
fight with the brave Tyr, and slay him. Thor will 
gain great glory by slaying the Midgard Serpent, 
but he will fall back nine paces, and then drop dead 
from the venom spouted on him by the expiring 
snake. 

The wolf will swallow Odin, but at that moment 
the silent Vidar will advance, and, setting his foot 
on the monster’s lower jaw, with his hand he will 
seize his upper jaw, and thus tear and rend his 
mouth until he dies. Vidar can do this, for he 
wears wonderful shoes, made of stuff which has 
been gathering in all ages — the shreds of leather 
which are cut off to form the heels and toes of shoes. 
It is for this reason, we are told, that those who 
would render a service to the gods should take care 
to throw such shreds away. Loki and Heimdall 
will fight and destroy each other, after which Sur- 
tur will hurl fire and flame over the whole earth, 
and it will be totally consumed. 

The immortality of the soul is distinctly asserted 


THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 


355 


in the prose Edda. Every one, we are there told, 
shall continue to exist in some one of the worlds 
throughout eternity. After the great burning many 
abodes will remain, some good and some bad. Gimli 
is the best mansion in heaven, but all those who love 
good drink will find a large store of it in the hall 
called Brimir, which stands in a heavenly country 
called Okolnir. The drinking heaven is an original 
thought, and, as far as I know, is not to be met 
with except in the North, where drinking formed 
one of the great pleasures of life. 

There is also a fair hall of red gold, which stands 
on Nida mount, and is called Sindri. In these halls 
shall dwell good, holy, and upright men. In Nas- 
trond there is a vast and dreadful house, with doors 
that face the north. It is formed entirely of ser- 
pents, wattled together in basket-work. The ser- 
pent’s heads are all turned toward the inside of the 
dwelling, and they continually pour forth floods of 
venom, which flows in streams through the hall, and 
in this terrible river wade perjurers and murderers: 

She saw a hall, 

Far from the sun. 

In Nastrond standing. 

Northward the doors look, 

And venom drops 

Fall in through loop-holes. 

Formed is that hall 
Of wreathed serpents. 

There saw she wade, 

Through heavy streams, 

Men foresworn, 

And murderers, 

And those who others’ wives 
Essayed to blemish. 


356 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

It is a remarkable fact that the Norseman’s low- 
est and worst place of torment for the wicked was a 
serpent cave. The North produces few venomous 
reptiles, and, probably, none capable of inspiring 
much terror: and here we find another proof, if it 
were needed, that the Odinic system was brought 
from the warm countries of the East. 

A still more horrible place than Nastrond is Hver- 
gelmir, where' the relentless death-serpent, Nidhogg, 
preys on corpses, and where the River Slid falls 
from the east through poisonous valleys filled with 
mud and swords. 

The ring was a sacred symbol in the North, and 
we here see the vast circle which began with the 
creation of the universe, and which the birth of gods, 
giants, vans, men, dwarfs, and elves completed. This 
round of being perishes, but a new one is born as 
the magic ring, Draupnir, gave birth to new rings 
every ninth night. Odin and his y£sir formed only 
one of the great creative circles, and they were 
doomed to pass away. 

Ragnarock means the darkness or twilight of the 
gods. They came into being with the birth of light, 
and mainly represent the forces and activities of 
light. The great battle on the day of doom begins 
with the extinction of the sun. Darkness is the 
first and last great enemy. It is chaos come again. 
It loosens the bands that tie the world together, and 
takes all force from the great laws and harmonies 
of nature and life. 

The meaning of some of the obscure imagery is 
lost to us. We do not know who the dauntless 


THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 


357 


Egdir or eagle was, nor why he is called the watcher 
of the giantess, who will sit upon a height and strike 
his harp. The light red cock, Fjalar, and the gold- 
combed cock that wakens heroes in Odin’s hall, 
and the soot-red cock that crows beneath the earth 
in Hel’s abode, appear to represent different forms 
of fire. Odin and his gods stand for natural and 
spiritual truth as then known. They seem also, 
in many ways, to typify the earthly career, full 
of trials, struggles, conflicts, and hardships, termi- 
nated by the apparent defeat of death. They must 
perish to give place to immortality. 

The images of this great poem are too vast and 
sublime to be fully comprehended. Here we have 
the greatest drama the human mind can conceive, 
compressed within a few brief sentences. The myth, 
doubtless, came down through the ages in a much 
simpler form, and was at last wrought over by 
the genius of some great poet, some Dante or 
Milton now forgotten. The sun swallowed up, the 
stars vanishing from the sky, the trembling earth 
and toppling mountains, the sea bursting over the 
land, and fire spouting from the earth, remind us of 
some of the sublime and awful descriptions of 
Revelation.* 

* The old Norse traditions were in all probability colored by the 
faith of the men who committed them to writing. They “ to whom 
the collection of the ancient pagan poetry of Iceland is commonly 
ascribed were men of Christian learning ; the one, the founder of a 
public school, the other, famous as the author of a history of the 
North, the ‘ Heimskringla.’ ’’—Max Muller’s “Chips from a German 
Workshop,” vol. ii, p. 192. They doubtless vivified and gave clean- 
cut distinctions to obscure legends that had been extant for ages. — E d. 


353 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

The ship Naglfar, the largest of all ships, made of 
the finger-nails of the dead, is supposed by Grimm, 
the famous German scholar, to refer to the very 
long time which must elapse before the end of the 
world. Those who cut and burn the nails of the 
departed assist in prolonging the time. This strange 
fancy is, therefore, an image of duration. In the 
elder Edda Loki is said to steer this dreadful ship, 
but in Snorri’s Edda the giant Hrym is named as 
steersman. The Midgard Serpent, who turns and 
seeks the land, is an irruption of the sea through 
all the defenses of the shore. The venom he blows 
forth is foam, mist, and vapor. The cleaving or 
breaking of heaven’s crystal, the blue sky, with 
Surtur issuing through, at the head of Muspel’s 
sons, is an image unsurpassed for grandeur. Vig- 
rid’s battle-field seems to be the center of things, 
and there all ranks and orders of beings, from the 
frost-giants to the elves, assemble to witness the 
great fight. The myth of Vidar’s shoe seems a 
childish fancy, a fragment of a folk-story, inserted 
by accident in the terrible detail of ruin and disas- 
ter. Nastrond, the place of final punishment, means 
the strand of corpses, and Nidhogg is the gnawing 
serpent of death. 

Most of the heavenly houses refer to some aspect 
of the sky. Gimli is the clear, bright heaven ; Vid- 
blain and Audlung the spacious blue firmament and 
boundless ether. The Norseman, disheartened 
much of the year by stormy and lowering weather, 
gave expression in many ways to his ardent love of 
the clear, bright heavens, and placed there his fu- 


THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 


359 

ture hope and joy. Okolnir means the warm abode, 
a thought so dear to the inhabitants of frozen lands 
that we are told the Esquimaux believe that fortu- 
nate souls go to the under world, which is warm 
and comfortable and well stocked with provisions, 
rather than to the cold, starved regions of the sky. 

There is reason to believe that this old faith pro- 
vided for the happy immortality of giants and 
dwarfs. In the many mansions of the supreme fa- 
ther there was room even for these undeveloped 
natures. All quarrels between mind and matter, 
darkness and light, good and evil, man's animal be- 
ing and his spiritual instincts and aspirations, were 
at last composed. The happy universe was to bud 
and blossom anew. 

The restored universe provides for the ultimate 
salvation of all beings except the most hardened and 
abandoned sinners. Three classes of these are ex- 
pressly mentioned. It is a little singular that cow- 
ards are not included in the list. For them even 
there was ultimate hope, but perjurers, murderers, 
and beguilers of other men’s wives were doomed to 
lasting torments in horrible Nastrond. The Greek 
mythology had a lowest depth corresponding to 
this place, called Tartarus. It was inhabited chiefly 
by those who had committed unnatural and mon- 
strous crimes. 


360 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

A NEW CREATION. 

HE Eddas tell us that after Ragnarock the 



-L earth will rise a second time from the ocean 
in radiant beauty. A second time order is evoked, 
but it is far more perfect and harmonious than be- 
fore. It is the ideal of the first creation realized, 
the promise of a perished world fulfilled in a new 
universe.* 

In this regenerated earth waterfalls will descend ; 
the eagle will again fly over to catch fish in mount- 
ain streams, and pleasant fields will abound where 
the grain grows unsown. The gods, those who have 
outlived the ruin of worlds, will again meet on Ida’s 
plain, where Asgard formerly stood. Vidar, the 
silent principle, and Vali, eternal youth, will sur- 

* In their traditional prophecies of a new creation the Norse 
myth-makers embodied the promise of the Almighty made, per- 
chance, at different epochs, and recorded about seven centuries be- 
fore Christ by Isaiah, chap, lxv, 17: “For, behold, I create new 
heavens, and a new earth:” which (chap, lxvi, 22) “ shall remain be- 
fore me, saith the Lord a promise to which Peter refers in his 
Second General Epistle, chap, iii, 13, in the words: “Nevertheless 
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness.” How the Norsemen became pos- 
sessed of this expectation is only conjecturable. In some form or 
other it seems to have been a part of the common property of man 
since the loss of Eden. — E d. 


A NEW CREATION. 


36l 


vive, for neither the sea floods nor Surtur’s fire has 
harmed them. The sons of Thor, Modi and Magni, 
(strength and courage,) shall come, bringing with 
them their father’s renowned hammer, Mjolnir. 
From the abodes of Hel Baldur and his blind 
brother, Hodur, shall appear. And they shall sit 
down and talk together of the mighty earth-encir- 
cler, (the Midgard Serpent,) and the fight with the 
wolf and their ancient perils. They will recall the 
great deeds of old and the half-forgotten wisdom of 
the glorious gods. In the grass they will find the 
golden tables which, in the beginning of time, were 
possessed by the prince of the gods and Fjolnir’s 
(Odin’s) race, as it is written in the Edda — 

There dwell Vidar and Vali 
In the gods’ holy seats, 

When slaked Surtur’s fire is. 

But Modi and Magni 
Will Mjolnir possess 
And strife put an end to. 

Hcenir shall receive offerings there, and two 
brothers’ sons inhabit the spacious Vindheim. In 
Gimli there will be a hall brighter than the sun and 
roofed with gold. Virtuous people shall dwell 
there, and enjoy happiness forever. Then the 
mighty One will come to the council of the gods — 
he who rules all things. He will declare judgment 
and appease quarrels and establish peace that shall 
last forever. But from beneath the mountains of 
Nida the dusky, spotted serpent, Nidhogg, will come 
flying, and bearing dead bodies on his wings. 


362 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

During the burning of the world caused by Sur- 
tur’s fire, a woman named Lif (life) and a man 
named Lifthrasir will lie concealed in Hodmimir’s 
wood. They shall feed on morning dew. Their 
descendants shall soon spread over the whole earth. 
What is still more wonderful, before the wolf de- 
stroys the sun she will give birth to a daughter far 
more beautiful than herself, and this maiden shall 
ride on her mother’s road, through the heavens, 
after the death of the gods. 

The sublime and awful conflict of Ragnarock is 
followed by this lovely picture of peace and har- 
mony in restored nature. The gods who survive 
the great burning belong not to time but to eter- 
nity. They underlie all the shifting aspects and 
changes of matter, and are the reality of things 
which science tells us can never be known in its es- 
sence — only in the way in which it manifests itself 
to our senses. Such is Vidar the Silent, who in- 
habits the solitudes and secret places of nature, and 
works we know not when or how, but brings all 
things to pass, from the formation of a crystal to 
the sprouting of a blade of grass. Such is Vali, the 
immortal infant, who steps into the place of the old, 
the decrepit, and the dying, and renews the world 
with fresh young life-blood. Such are the sons 
of Thor, Modi and Magni, who, after the great con- 
flict is fought out by their much-enduring father 
and his comrades, must still, as strength and cour- 
age, under-prop the foundations of peace. After 
the mighty revolution has worked through the 
whole circle of change., golden-browed Baldur is re- 


A NEW CREATION. 363 

leased from Hel, and comes leading in his blind 
brother, Hodur. 

What a lovely picture is this, where all the op- 
posing forces, the warring elements, are reconciled 
and harmonized, and the enemies of the past sit 
down together in perfect peace ! It has been seized 
upon by the old poet of the Edda, who imagines 
the ever-living gods meeting on Ida’s plain, where 
ancient Asgard formerly stood, to talk over the 
events of the dim past, the age of conflict, and re- 
call the mighty deeds of the dead gods, who be- 
longed to the old world and an order of things 
which has perished. There, in the grass, they come 
by accident upon the golden tablets of the gods, 
which were dropped and forgotten ages gone, just 
as our modern antiquaries might chance to dig up 
an engraved stone in old Nineveh or Thebes, which, 
when deciphered, would throw a flood of light on 
the religions of the ancient world. The only hint 
of destruction in the renovated world is the picture 
of the eagle flying over to catch fish in the mount- 
ain streams. We have the grand image of death 
fleeing away over the dark mountains, in the form 
of the serpent, Nidhogg, who has now taken wing, 
and vanishes in the distance, bearing dead bodies 
upon his pinions. The old adversary that for ages 
lay coiled about the universe tree, eating away 
its substance in the darkness, has now become a 
winged creature, and we can trace its majestic 
course through the sky until it finally sinks down 
out of sight forever. 

Hcenir, who is to receive offerings in the new 


364 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

world, is a creative spirit. His origin and attri- 
butes are always more or less involved in mystery. 
We know he was present when man was made, and 
bestowed upon him a certain third of his nature, 
which has been explained as the understanding. 
His gift was perhaps the power of spiritual percep- 
tion, as distinct from the vital force and the breath 
of life given by Odin. At any rate he is a more 
enduring creative power than Allfather, and there- 
fore lives in the regenerated world after the death 
of Odin. The two brothers, whose sons are to in- 
habit Vindheim, it is difficult to identify, although 
some scholars have held that this passage refers to 
Thor and Baldur. Gimli is here spoken of as the 
final, imperishable home of the good, as the hall of 
dread in Nastrond is the hopeless abode of the evil. 
In that passage of the Edda where we are told that 
the mighty One shall come to rule over the councils 
of the gods, we have proof that in some thoughtful 
minds there lived the doctrine of a God above all 
gods, imperishable, eternal, unlimited, a Being so 
dread, so supreme, and sacred, the myth-makers 
did not venture to give him a name, but describe 
him in paraphrase as “ the mighty One,” and “ he 
who sent forth the heat.” 

The preservation of the undying life principle is 
beautifully symbolized under the form of the woman, 
Lif, and her husband, Lifthrasir, (vitality,) who hide 
in the wood of knowledge, and feed on the morning 
dew, lying still and unharmed, and when the pow- 
ers of destruction have spent themselves, come 
forth to create a new race. In every change and 


A NEW CREATION. 


365 


process of decay, in every form of death, the life- 
principle hides and waits its turn to come forth and 
work new miracles of growth. It hides in knowl- 
edge, and has its seat in the divine mind, where lies 
all renewing and creative power. 

This is extremely beautiful, and the longer we 
reflect upon the myth the more we are struck by 
the depth and richness of its meaning. Before she 
is swallowed by the wolf, the sun brings forth a 
lovely daughter, to take her place in driving the 
light chariot through the heavens. This is the new 
birth of light, after the fierce struggles of fire and 
water, the breaking loose of chaos, and the reign of 
death and darkness. The reappearance of serene 
depths of clear sky, the young innocence and purity 
of light after a black tempest, can easily account for 
the myth of a new sun. When the mother dies 
amid the fear and trembling of the universe, the 
daughter, a pure young virgin, takes her place in 
the heavens. 

We have now come to the appropriate end of the 
doctrinal part of this well-rounded mythology. In 
the prose Edda the gods can relate nothing more 
to the inquiring Gylfi or Gangler. Their prophetic 
powers have found a limit, and the guidance of the 
universe is henceforth left to One whose ways are 
inscrutable and past finding out.* 

* L. A. Blackwell, in his “ Critical Examination of the Leading 
Doctrines of the Scandinavian System of Mythology,” affirms that 
“ a belief in a higher deity ” than Odin, “ in a real Supreme Being, 
may possibly have been entertained by a few enlightened skalds and 
Pontiff chieftains, but there is little or nothing to show that this be- 
lief was inculcated as a doctrine.” As in other nations, it may have 


366 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

It now seems proper to glance briefly over the 
whole system of faith as held by our Norse ances- 
tors. We know that the creeds and articles of re- 
ligion held by any nation are quite different from 
the working, practical rule of life which people ap- 
ply to conduct. It was so in old times, and is so 
still. It is not to be supposed that the spiritual 
doctrines of the Odinic system were understood by 
the common people, who knew no god above All- 
father, and worshiped him principally under the 
symbol of the sword. But such as these men were, 
they were our forefathers, and it is well to try and 
know them just as they lived and thought and 
acted. All the noble and great things the race has 
achieved sprang from these worshipers of a war- 
god. All our saints, philosophers, poets, states- 
men, and thinkers must trace their line back to the 
old Saxon or Norse heathens ; and if we revolt at 
some of their ideas and customs we must exercise 
charity of the broadest kind, because of the half- 


been concealed from the vulgar as one of the unrevealable myster- 
ies. “ In the elder Edda there are only two allusions to such an 
omnipotent Being, and even these are very obscure, as the reader 
will find by the following literal translation of the strophes that con- 
tain them : 4 Then cometh the mighty one (inn uki) to the divine 
judgment — the potent form above, who all [things] swayeth. He 
giveth judgment, putletb an end to strife, and ordaineth laws, [or a 
holy peace] which shall last for evermore.’ — Voluspa, st. 58. ‘An- 
other and a mightier one [than Thor] whom I venture not to name, 
will then come. Few there are who can look beyond the time 
when Odin will go against the wall.’ ” — Hyndlu-Yd6, st. 41. Mal- 
let’s “ Northern Antiquities,” p. 483. The idea of a Supreme Being, 
once communicated to man, appears to be incapable of being wholly 
lost. — E d. 


A NEW CREATION. 


367 

unfolded nature of those ancient men, who had in 
them the germs of so much goodness, greatness, 
and moral grandeur. 

Their every-day religion was a working scheme, 
very narrow, but well suited to the mental state of 
its worshipers. They had but cramped notions of 
the physical world, the world of real things, for 
they possessed no maps, and had only the vaguest 
ideas of the extension of the earth’s surface. Be- 
yond the traditions handed down to him by ances- 
tors more ignorant than himself, the ancient Norse- 
man only knew the earth as he saw it with his own 
eyes or experienced it in his own person. But 
the time came when his spirit chafed at ignorance 
and the narrow limits of his life, when his restless 
nature drove him forth, and, as the world-renowned 
viking, he became the terror of Europe and the 
great explorer of the stormy western seas. But 
his myth-making and poetic period was then long 
over. 

It is impossible for us to imagine ourselves in the 
position of the ancient man ; but if we can fancy 
how it would be had we from infancy been de- 
prived of all true knowledge of the past, the gar- 
nered science, art, and wisdom of the world, we could 
partly reconstruct the old Norseman’s mind, and 
understand how he thought and felt. Though much 
less than the modern man, so far as accurate infor- 
mation and the extension of ideas go, he was greater 
in some other ways. As a child of nature he learned 
all that he knew at first-hand. The world was his 
only book, his powers of observation were quick- 


368 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

ened, and the mystery of the world excited his im- 
agination and made him an unconscious poet. 

The extension of knowledge has rendered people 
prosaic. We have learned so much about causes 
that common things no longer excite us. The sky 
and clouds, night and day, cannot awaken wonder 
in ordinary minds. People must be unusually gift- 
ed to have these sublime things strike out new im- 
ages, and excite fresh emotions. But it was not so 
to the Norseman. The world was very narrow to 
him. He stood in the center of it, and felt the 
great and awful powers pressing upon him, brood- 
ing over him, filling him with joy and fear and won- 
der and adoration. When he asked why the wind 
blew, why the cloud thundered, why the waterfall 
tumbled down the steep mountain cliff, he was 
generally satisfied with the answers his imagination 
furnished, that a person like himself, though more 
powerful, lay behind the wind and the cloud and 
the cliff, and caused these appearances. Every 
thing in nature spoke to him with a human tongue. 
The earliest myths were his artless report of what 
he had seen and heard from those mighty friends 
or foes, who lived hidden behind thunder, mount- 
ains, and icebergs. Whether in the beginning those 
spirits were human ghosts, as some would have us 
believe, it is needless to inquire. However they 
originated, they became to all intents and purposes 
the spirits of those objects of nature which they 
were supposed to occupy and animate. 

But as the Norse race grew older, and thought 
more, it unconsciously formed what is called a sys- 


A NEW CREATION. 


369 

tem of faith, and wove into the simple old myths 
certain doctrines about life, death, and immortality, 
and these, as I have tried to show, were all colored 
by the national bias for warfare. 

But this system was narrow and close bound in 
the ring of destiny, except when the ancient mind 
became very clear, or, by a strange flash of inspira- 
tion, seemed to see the limitless heavens above As- 
gard, and the Almighty One sitting above the finite 
Odin. It was, perhaps, owing to these glimpses of 
a higher truth that the Norseman set a term to his 
gods, and believed, even while he loved them and lived 
by them, that they would pass away to make room 
for better things. But only the wiser minds may 
have seen the possibility of a holier religion. Ordi- 
narily the faith of Odin was all the Norseman felt 
that he needed. He could only worship gods who 
came very close to him and partook of his human 
failings. He loved them because they were imper- 
fect beings like himself, with certain attributes of 
power and majesty added. Odin was but a narrow 
spiritual sovereign, although he was fondly called 
Allfather. He could lay no claims to boundless 
wisdom, for he was created ; he had a beginning, 
and the giants, his progenitors, were wiser in some 
things than he was. He was superior in divine en- 
ergy and in the attributes of a moral law-maker 
and governor ; but to gain the wisdom that lay be- 
neath the earth he must quaff of Mimir’s well, and 
to acquire heavenly inspiration he must drink of 
the waters of the heavenly Urdar fountain. He 
even allowed himself to be bound in the dwarfs 
24 


370 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

house, as related in the Volsunga legends, and had 
to pay a ransom for a misdeed. When the doom 
is hanging over Baldur he is obliged to raise the 
rnwilling vala from her tomb and question her 
about the future. And on the dread day of Ragna- 
rock he consulted Mimiras to the best course to be 
pursued in the battle. Many more proofs could be 
gathered, if required, of his limited nature. 

Thor, though the great compeller, the bulwark 
of heaven, was rather stupid. We have seen, in 
some of the popular stories, how the giants could 
outwit him. Loki, with his quick wit and ready 
invention, was personified evil and the father of lies. 
His own wickedness at last overwhelmed him, but 
at times he seemed stronger than the combined 
forces of the JEsir. Frey, the beneficent god of the 
earth’s fertility, gave away his sword to gratify his 
love. Frigga, although she loved her son Baldur 
with all a mother’s devotion, had not the wisdom 
to see that the weakest thing that grows in winter 
would destroy her child. So with the other gods : 
there is every-where a limit to their powers, a flaw 
in their perfections. They were very human, and 
thus came close the hearts of those ancient people, 
like us, their remote descendants, in many ways ; 
and we have in us still some of the tendencies im- 
planted by that old heathen faith. 

But the Norseman, in his clearer moments, got 
glimpses of those elements of decay and death that 
lay hidden in the old faith. His heart was pro- 
phetic of its doom. The best minds in the North — 
minds like Olaf Tryggveson and St. Olaf— hailed 


A NEW CREATION. 


371 


Christianity as the purer religion which was to sup- 
plant their fathers’ gods. They had a hard struggle 
with the tough, stubborn heathenism of the lower 
orders of people ; for their own minds were like 
mountain-tops that catch the first rays of the rising 
sun long before the dark valleys are illumined. 

The old faith had strong twisted roots deep down 
in the soil, and for two or three centuries it sur- 
vived in corners and by-places after Christianity be- 
came the established religion. There was a time 
when the two existed side by side, and men could 
scarcely tell whether they were Christian or pagan. 
We hear of some who were Christians on land and 
pagans at sea, because the old gods, they believed, 
had always protected them on the waves. Many 
of the rites and ceremonies of the old faith insen- 
sibly crept into the new. The people no longer 
bowed down to idols, but they worshiped the im- 
ages of saints. Many of the customs which survived 
were harmless and kindly, and served to keep the 
heart open toward nature. 

It took ages to root out the idea that blood-re- 
venge was a sacred duty, a religious obligation ; and 
for this reason the new doctrines of forgiveness, 
humanity, and love could work but slowly in the 
people’s hearts, to temper their reckless courage 
and awaken new thoughts of life and death, of duty 
to God and to one’s neighbor, which the old re- 
ligion, grand and suggestive as it was in many 
ways, was incapable of arousing. Long after Chris- 
tianity became the nominal religion of Iceland the 
blood-feud raged so violently that all the best men 


372 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

of the island were in danger of being extermi- 
nated. 

But after some centuries the wild spirit of the 
Viking was tamed. Warfare ceased to be a holy 
calling. The Norseman’s hand was no longer against 
every man. He had expended his terrible energies 
along the coasts of Europe by revolutionizing gov- 
ernments and pouring an infusion of new blood and 
an increased stock of vigor into weaker races. At 
home he was restless, because his land was small, 
cold, and barren, and furnished no adequate field 
for his boundless ambition. He was a great man 
in a confined sphere, and so he went forth seeking 
to conquer other lands. When he had made him- 
self master of a country his character changed and 
he became grave, courtly, polite, and famed for his 
indomitable pride. Such were the Normans who 
brought important elements of national life and lan- 
guage into England. 

The ancient Norseman belonged to what we call 
a fine stock. He has invigorated wide regions of 
the earth. The religion of strife he brought from 
the East, and remodeled, was but partial and tempo- 
rary ; but another and a mightier than Odin was to 
come from the East to tame those savage natures 
and bow those stubborn minds and break the yoke 
of superstition, and then Valhalla, with its glittering 
shield-maidens and its armed heroes, was to pass 
away like the baseless fabric of a dream. 


THE LESSER GODS. 


373 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE LESSER GODS. 

I HAVE already pointed out the remarkable co- 
incidence between the Greek Zeus, (Jupiter,) 
with his court of twelve gods, and Odin, with his 
heavenly council of the same number. But it is 
difficult to settle positively which were the twelve 
great gods of the Greeks, and the same difficulty 
exists in the Norse system ; for whomsoever you 
include you appear to leave out others of equal im- 
portance. 

The tradition of the twelve gods may have sprung 
from the twelve judges who sat in the doom-ring 
of an earthly court, or it may possibly bear some 
remote relation to the twelve months of the year 
or the twelve signs of the zodiac. All the principal 
gods were provided with spacious and splendid 
houses. The rigor of the climate made the mind 
shrink from exposing them to its changes. In the 
warm South the lovely gods and goddesses could 
live in the open air or in the sea, or could recline 
on clouds, or mountain sides, provided with the 
slightest of draperies. But the shivering fancy of 
the North gave the gods abodes, where they sat 
and feasted in comfort. It even provided the mer- 
maids with swan’s plumage, which they could lay 
aside at pleasure. 


374 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 

We have already made acquaintance with the 
chief gods of the North, the principal members of 
that mighty ALsir family, and it now remains to 
consider the more humble brothers and sisters, each 
of whom ruled over some special department of 
nature or of life. Besides Odin, who, in a general 
sense, was the god of battles, there was a special 
god of valor, whose chief duty seems to have been 
to infuse courage into the warrior’s heart. Tyr is 
called the most intrepid of all the gods. As a giver 
of victory he was invoked by men of reckless cour- 
age, who for this reason were called Tyr-strong. 
You will remember that, when the gods wished to 
bind Fenrir, Tyr consented to put his hand into the 
monster’s mouth and that it was bitten off. To 
steadily hold the hand in a flame has ever been the 
extreme test of courage. The joint of the wrist, 
where Fenrir bit off Tyr’s hand, was called the wolf- 
joint. Tyr was the maimed, one-handed god, and 
this was his defect, as the loss of Frey’s sword was 
his. The impediments of the gods show how pro- 
foundly the old myth-makers had looked into them- 
selves. They molded their deities out of what 
they knew of their own natures, and never failed to 
put in the fault which hinders the greatest human 
being from attaining perfection. You will remem- 
ber that when Thor went to borrow Hymir’s pot 
for JEgir, who wished to brew beer for the gods, he 
was accompanied by Tyr. In Hymir’s myth Tyr 
is spoken of as the son of the giant and a beautiful 
giantess ; but he is elsewhere called Odin’s son by a 
giantess. Courage, on the moral side, is allied to 


THE LESSER GODS. 


375 


the gods, while its blind, brutal fury is joined to the 
lower forces of nature. The ancients spoke of giant- 
strength and As-strength ; the one is the strength of 
earth, the other of heaven. 

Loki twits Tyr with the loss of his hand, which 
makes it impossible for him to bear a shield. He 
also tells him that he has tampered with the affec- 
tions of his wife, and brags that the god of valor 
was unable to recover a cent of damage. But, as 
Loki was the prince of liars, we find nothing in the 
Eddas to confirm the truth of this story. Tyr is a 
nobler figure than the brutal Greek Mars, whom the 
fighting Romans made their chief god. The loss 
of his hand under circumstances so honorable to 
himself, though it detracts from the perfection of 
his godhead, throws over him a ray of human 
pathos. You will remember that Tyr falls at Rag- 
narock fighting with Garm, Hel’s watch-dog, whom 
he slays before expiring. 

We next come to a god of peace and joy, who 
filled the hearts of men with soft emotions. He 
loved feasts and good cheer and social intercourse 
and kindly communion. He is the good and wise 
Bragi, celebrated for his eloquence. He is the 
skilled orator, acquainted with the most elegant 
and correct forms of speech. He is the most charm- 
ing of all poets, and men and women skilled in 
poetry, or in the art of speaking wisely and well, 
are called Bragr-men and Bragr-women. Poetry 
was named Bragr in the North. He is a son of 
Odin, and wears his beard long. He who wore his 
beard in this fashion was called Skeggbragi, the 


3 ?6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

bearded poet. Perhaps this explains the fancy 
which poets frequently have shown for long beards. 

Bragi was very appropriately wedded to Iduna, 
the beautiful young goddess of immortality. She 
kept in her vase the magic apples which the gods 
were forced to eat when they felt old age stealing 
upon them. You will remember the great calamity 
which threatened the gods when, through the wiles 
of Loki, Iduna and her apples were enticed away 
from Asgard. Bragi is a great lover of peace, be- 
cause poetry and eloquence can only flourish in 
those intervals when war has ceased to distract the 
minds of men. He once offered to give Loki a 
horse and a sword if he would cease from stirring 
up strife among the JEsir. But Loki reviles and 
upbraids him for being the most cowardly of all the 
race of gods and elves present in Asgard. Iduna 
entreats her husband not to quarrel with the wicked 
Loki, and declares that she will refrain from speak- 
ing scoffing words of the reviler of the gods, and 
will try and pacify Bragi, who is somewhat excited 
by drink. But Loki responds to the gentle efforts 
of the peacemaker with taunts and insults ; for it 
was one of his pastimes to throw out malicious in- 
sinuations about the wives of the gods. The whole 
scene was probably invented to illustrate the peace- 
loving character of gentle Bragi, who fared not too 
well among the rude, wild spirits of the North. 

In the South music and poetry went hand in 
hand. They were twin-born, or existed in the same 
god. The infant Hermes (Mercury) sang while he 
played upon his tortoise-shell lyre ; Apollo played 


THE LESSER GODS. 


377 


upon the harp, while the Muses sang to his accom- 
paniment ; Pan, the rustic god, had a set of pipes 
made from the river reeds, on which he discoursed 
sweet sounds; but in Norse mythology music is 
seldom if ever mentioned as one of the attributes of 
the gods, and no god of music is spoken of in the 
Eddas. Men could not bestow music upon the 
ALsir before it had been created on earth. Many 
ages were to pass away before Germany, one of the 
chosen seats of modern music, could produce a Beet- 
hoven 6r a Mozart. 

But Bragi’s speech was like music; and we are 
told, in the highly metaphorical language of the an- 
cients, that runes were inscribed on his tongue. At 
all festivals and feasts, whether solemn or joyous, 
whether religious or social, the Bragarfull, or Bragi- 
cup, was quaffed, while skalds recited the heroic 
feats of dead and living heroes. The skald, or poet, 
who drew all his inspiration from Bragi, was a very 
important figure at Northern banquets, where long- 
haired jarls sat quaffing huge bumpers of mead, and 
loved to have their vanity tickled by listening to 
the recital of their deeds in battle. But, judging 
from many of the verses handed down to us, the 
skald’s effusions were often little better than a string 
of wretched doggerel. The forgotten skalds who 
threw the ballads of the Edda into their present 
form were true poets of a very high order. 

At the death of a king or jarl a great funeral feast 
was held, whereat all the clansmen and friends assem- 
bled. The heir sat on a lower bench in front of the 
high seat or throne of his father. As soon as Bragi’s 


378 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

cup was brought in he arose to receive it, made a 
vow, and drank the cup, after which he was led up 
to take his seat in his father’s place. Bragi’s cup 
at funeral ceremonies suggests the theory that the 
earliest songs and poetical compositions were dirges 
sung or recited over the dead. The most primitive 
music among savage tribes is said to be the beating 
together of two sticks called tom-tom. This is 
used to call the tribe together for war, to summon 
the people to rude merry-makings, or to accom- 
pany the monotonous wail of mourners over the 
dead. Out of the tom-tom, and other devices as 
rude, we are told, has been developed every musical 
instrument we possess, up to the piano, the harp, 
and the organ. The dirge for the dead, according 
to this theory, grew into a religious hymn, when the 
departed chief, or great man of the tribe, was dei- 
fied and became a god. It developed into the 
heroic ode when the deeds of ancestors were sung 
or recited at feasts, and took a wider range when 
the exploits of the living were celebrated by the 
poet or wandering bard, who by that time had be- 
come a musician, and could accompany himself on 
a rude harp of five or seven strings. 

When guilds or clubs met to sacrifice to the gods 
the chief made the sign of Thor’s hammer on the 
meat and on the cup, and the first horn was quaffed 
to Odin for victory and power to the king; the 
second to Njord and Frey for peace and plenty, and 
the last to Bragi. This was the cup of vows, when 
hot-blooded young heroes made brags or promises to 
accomplish great and mighty things, so that the skald 


THE LESSER GODS. 379 

might find a fitting subject for song in the recital 
of their deeds. 

Odin, as god of the intellect, you will remember, 
secured for the gods the poets’ inspiring mead ; but 
Bragi represents the poetic art as it comes into the 
homes of the people, and makes itself welcome by 
diffusing a cheerful, happy, and contented spirit. 
As a lover and advocate of peace Bragi is present 
at weddings and harvest festivals and all rustic 
merry-makings. He is the good and graceful speak- 
er, who refines the boorishness of the ignorant, and 
gives them ease and self-command. Odin took 
poetry up to heaven, but Bragi brought it down 
again to earth to be the solace and delight of man- 
kind. 

One of the most sacred and powerful of the gods 
is Heimdall, who is called the white or bright god. 
He was born in the dawn of time, on the confines 
of the earth, and is the son of nine sisters, giant- 
maidens, who nourished him on the strength of the 
earth and the cold sea. These maidens were named 
Gjalp, Greip, Eistla, Angeyja, Ulfrun, Ayrgjafa, 
Imd, Atla, and Jarnsaxa. He drinks mead in his 
bright hall, Himinbjorg, at the head of Bifrost- 
bridge. He sits as the watchman of the gods at 
the very end of heaven, to guard the bridge con- 
necting it with earth from the attacks of mountain 
giants. He is often wet through with the rain, or, 
as Loki says, gets a wet back. He needs less sleep 
than a bird, and his sight is so good he sees by 
night as well as by day a hundred miles around. 
His hearing is very acute, for he can hear grass 


380 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

grow on the ground and wool on the sheep’s back. 
His horn, Gjoll, (Giallar-horn,) is hidden under the 
sacred tree, Yggdrasill, but when he blows it, its 
sound is heard through all worlds. He is called 
Hallinskeidi, (descending,) and Gullin-tauni, (gold- 
en-tooth,) because his teeth are of gold. The head 
is called Heirndall’s Sword, because he was once 
pierced through with a human head. The myth to 
which the above refers is lost. 

Heimdall had a contest with Loki about Brisinga- 
men, Freyja’s necklace. He is the personified rain- 
bow, and guards the borders of heaven from the en- 
croaching giants, who were always seeking to gain 
access to the bright worlds above. He is born on 
the verge of the universe, because the arch of the 
rainbow seems to spring from earth’s remotest 
bound. He is called the white god because he is 
pure white light before it has been divided into 
colors by the tiny prisms of the rain-drops. As he 
belongs to the air and the sea he is a van, but as 
he spans the sky he is Odin’s son. He is a pure 
nature-god, like Thor, and one of the most lovely in 
the whole Northern system. 

Iris, the Greek rainbow, will not compare with 
him in beautiful significance. He. has nine mothers, 
giant-maidens, who are supposed to refer to the 
different substances which the ancients thought en- 
tered into the composition of the rainbow. The 
colors of the rainbow were adjudged three, even in 
ancient times, therefore Heimdall’s mothers cannot 
refer to them. Nine was a sacred number with 
Northern as well as with Southern nations. The 


THE LESSER GODS. 


381 


Greeks worshiped nine sacred muses. ^Egir, and 
his wife, Ran, had nine beautiful daughters, the sea 
waves. Odin’s ring every ninth night shed eight 
other rings of equal weight. 

The cause of the rainbow was not known to the 
ancients, and as the most striking wonder of na- 
ture, if we except thunder, the excited fancy shaped 
the natural and familiar image of a bridge between 
heaven and earth, which, at rare intervals, was re- 
vealed to expectant eyes. The bridge must have a 
warder to warn the gods of approaching danger 
from the giants, and hence Heimdall’s double na- 
ture. He is the white and shining watchman who 
stands up against the sky, and blows his horn until 
it echoes through all worlds ; and he is the rainbow 
itself, as we know from his name, (descending,) 
which refers to its curved shape. 

It is probable that Heimdall is one of the oldest 
gods of the system. He was called golden-tooth, 
because his teeth were of pure gold. This simply 
signifies his general brightness and beauty, and is 
one of those childish fancies we find, here and there, 
in all mythologies. In Norway, the land of steep 
mountain cascades, the broken rainbow spanning 
such a fall, is still called a weather-post. From this 
idea of the pole or post of the world comes the name 
Heimdall. When the rainbow appeared in its full 
beauty, like the perfect arch of a heavenly bridge, 
they called it Bifrost, or the quivering way, which 
refers no doubt to the shimmer of color which seems 
to play over the bow. 

The curve of the bow gave rise to the myth of t 


382 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

Gjallar-horn, which the guardian Heimdall blows to 
arouse all worlds. One end of it touches Gjoll, the 
horizon, the other reaches Himinbjorg, heaven, or 
the clouds. As sky-watchman and warder of the 
bridge, Heimdall is endowed with senses of marvel- 
ous keenness. He is personified vigilance, which 
never sleeps, and also a god of exquisite attributes. 
The rainbow bridge, though one of the simplest, is 
one of the loveliest, conceptions of mythology. It 
answers the intense longing of the human heart for 
a way to heaven, an escape out of the bondage of 
earth to the shining spheres which lie somewhere 
hidden behind the heavens. Heimdall’s horse is 
named Gulltop, gold mane : 

“ ’Tis Himinbjorg called, 

Where Heimdall, they say, 

Hath dwelling and rule ; 

There the gods’ warden drinks, 

In peaceful old halls 
Gladsome, the good mead.” 


Mark this beautiful picture of the white god, in 
his peaceful cloud-halls, quaffing mead from the 
golden beakers of the sun. 

Heimdall contended with Loki for Freyja’s neck- 
lace, Brisingamen. This is supposed to refer to the 
show of brilliant colors in the rainbow, in fire, and 
in the phosphorescence of the sea, from which Freyja 
was born. Her necklace is only a shimmer of 
splendid hues in the air, and over the summer sea. 
Heimdall, the divine care-taker, watches day and 
night, and never slumbers or sleeps. This lovely 
idea of trust in One above, that the savage and the 


THE LESSER GODS. 


383 


civilized man dimly feels when he lies down in the 
darkness, has been woven into a myth with the 
sleepless Heimdall, his horse and horn, in the high 
watch-tower of the sky. Heimdall, as personified 
light, appears in the myth of Rig. 

Blind Hodur, son of Odin, who, owing to the 
malice of Loki, slew his brother Baldur, is also 
reckoned a god, although in truth he is only the 
negation or shadow side of summer. He is blind 
but exceedingly strong, a kind of Norse Samson. 
Gods and men abhor his name, and would never 
hear it spoken, for it reminds them of the terrible 
misfortune his hand inflicted. His name refers, it 
is said, to war, and suggests the endless strife of 
light and darkness. He does harm merely because 
he cannot see the good, and thus typifies the dark- 
ened mind, buried in sense, which is not actively 
malicious, but sluggish and besotted, and may do 
calamitous things unawares, when it becomes the 
instrument of evil. How beautiful and pathetic is 
the picture of blind Hodur, who slays his brother 
unwittingly, and after Ragnarock is reconciled and 
led into the restored and purified heavens by the 
shining Baldur, who sits down with him in peace. 

Vali, the new year, was counted a god. He was 
born to avenge Baldur and slay Hodur, but after 
Ragnrock he appears reconciled and happy in com- 
pany with his brothers, who have been released from 
death. Vali is the son of Odin by Rinda. Allfather 
courted his mother under great difficulties ; for as 
Rinda was simply the hard-frozen ground, she long 
resisted his advances. But at last she gave birth 


384 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

to a victorious crowned infant, with a bow in his 
hand. 

Vidar is the silent god, born of Odin and the gi- 
antess Grid. He has a very thick shoe, which some 
of the myths say was made of scraps of leather, and 
others of iron. This shoe did him good service at 
Ragnarock. He is the strongest of all the gods ex- 
cept Thor, and in time of trouble the JEsir turn to 
him for aid. Vidar lives in Landvidi, a place thickly 
overgrown with bushes and high grass. His home 
is in wild lairs and thickets and in the trackless 
forest. There is an instinct in man to go into the 
wilderness to meet God and to commune with his 
own soui. The old Norseman gave to the silent, 
mysterious, brooding spirit of awe that inhabits 
mountains and deserts the name of Vidar. He will 
live after the noisy Thor has perished, for he is the 
undying life of the planet, as Hcenir is the undying 
spirit of man. His shoe is the symbol of his 
strength. He makes no sound, but he leaves a 
mark. The forests and mountains and cultivated 
fields are clothed and stripped and clothed again. 
Vidar is at work. As Heimdall is God’s sleepless 
care, thought of in the form of a god, Vidar is his 
undying force, his changeless essence. 

The Norsemen regarded the Holmgang, or duel, 
as a religious act, and they made for themselves a 
god of single combats, called Ullur. He is also a 
hunting-god, and travels rapidly both on skates and 
snow-shoes. We are told that he crossed the sea 
on a bone — probably skates, for the most ancient 
skates were made of the bones of animals. With 


THE LESSER GODS. 


335 


these he crossed some portion of the frozen sea. 
Originally Ullur may have been some form of light 
or sun-god. This is indicated by his bow and 
rapid motion. Being an excellent archer he was 
invoked by fighters. He is sometimes called Ydal, 
and he was the son of Sif (mountain grass) and the 
step-son of Thor. 

Forseti, the presider, god, of justice and judgment, 
I have already told you, was the son of Baldur and 
Nanna. He was devoutly worshiped by the Fris- 
ians, and possessed an important temple on the isl- 
and of Heligoland. It is obscurely hinted that, after 
Ragnarock, he lived in heavenly Vindheim. Her- 
mod, as you will remember, was the son of Odin, 
sent to try and deliver Baldur from Hel. He is 
simply a messenger-god. 

The remaining sons of Odin, whose attributes are 
not well defined in the Eddas, are Meili, a brother 
of Thor ; Nep, or Nef, the father of Nanna ; and 
Hildolf. 

25 


386 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


THE ASYNJUR. 


S the whole primitive system of mythology 



Jr\ proceeds from heaven and earth, father and 
mother god, the oldest form of earth-goddess is 
simply a mountain — Fiorgynn, Hlodyn, or the 
heaped or piled earth, without reference to its pro- 
ductive powers. She gives birth to Thor, the 
thunder-god. 

But although Fiorgynn, or Hlodyn, appears to 
be the oldest, she is not the most important earth- 
goddess. The place of Odin’s queen is assigned to 
Frigga. She. sometimes seats herself in Hilds- 
kjalf, the high seat of the universe, by the side of 
her spouse. We hear of no other goddess whose 
right it is to assume this exalted position. She has 
the dignity of Allfather’s wife, and protects mar- 
riage and the domestic hearth. As the matron of 
Asgard she is a very important character, and her 
influence is all thrown into the scale of a pure family 
life. She did not approve of the irregular marriages 
Odin entered into with her rivals, but those rivals 
were only different forms of herself under varying 
conditions of season and climate. 

Frigga is the rich, productive summer-earth. Her 
name comes from a root denoting fruitful. The 


TIIE ASYNJUR. 


387 


goddess had a magnificent hall called Fensalir, the 
deep, moist earth. She had nothing to do with 
barren mountains, tangled wild woods, or unculti- 
vated wastes. She spread her bounteous skirts over 
broad meadows, rich grain-fields, blooming orchards 
and gardens, and all varieties of tilled land val- 
uable to the husbandman. She was a more intel- 
lectual goddess than Hlodyn, and, in an imperfect 
way, was endowed with the gift of prophecy ; but 
though she knew man’s destiny she was doomed to 
silence, because the earth is profoundly discreet and 
keeps all secrets to itself. Frigga is the goddess of 
marriage, and her purity seems undoubted, although 
the malicious Loki reproached her for unfaithful- 
ness to Odin. Once, when Allfather was long ab- 
sent on a journey, she is said to have married his 
two brothers, Vili and Ve. What this myth means 
we cannot say, for we are unacquainted with the 
nature of Odin’s brothers. They probably sym- 
bolize some of the elements, as understood by the 
ancients — perhaps air, water, light, or heat — and in 
the absence of Odin they united themselves with 
Frigga, that the earth might bring forth. It is 
possible that a very ancient form of marriage, called 
polyandry, where one wife married several brothers 
of the same family, may be hinted at in this obscure 
myth. We know that this form of marriage was 
practiced in ancient India, but I am not aware that 
any traces of it are to be found in the North. 

Frigga had great honor and dignity, and is ranked 
with Freyja as the highest among the goddesses. 
In the temples these two goddesses were sometimes 


388 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

accorded an equal rank with the most exalted of 
the Hisir. We are told of a temple in Iceland 
where their statues were seated upon thrones oppo- 
site those of Thor and Frey. It is still uncertain 
whether the sixth day of the week perpetuates the 
name of Frigga, Freyja, or Frey, or whether it was 
sacred to all of them. It is difficult to understand 
why this day has, for ages, been considered unlucky, 
and has gathered about it a great variety of super- 
stitions. Not one of the heathen deities to whom 
it possibly was sacred was a bringer of misfortune 
to the world, but, on the contrary, they were among 
the happiest and best-beloved of the gods of Asgard. 
It is more than probable that this superstition 
dates back no further than early Christian times, 
and arose in connection with the crucifixion of our 
Lord Jesus Christ on the sixth day of the week. 

Frigga was called Nanna’s stepmother, because 
this lovely goddess was the wife of Baldur. Her 
rivals in Odin’s affections were Rinda, Gunlod, and 
Gerda. These were all different aspects of Frigga, 
so changed by change of season that she did not 
recognize herself in them. Rinda, as you will re- 
member, was the earth’s frozen crust. She is still 
known to us as the rind, or hard outside of things. 
Gunlod is supposed to be the autumnal earth, 
whose juices are fermenting in fruits and grains. 
Odin, through his endearments, the warm sunshine 
and wooing air, obtained from her the poetic mead, 
Gerda is the mellow earth of spring that buds and 
blossoms forth under the genial light of lengthening 
days. She might be represented as a very young 


THE ASYNJUR. 


389 


girl, wearing snow-drops in her bosom. Frigga had 
a dress made of the falcon’s plumage, with which 
she could wing her way through the air. It refers, 
perhaps, to the flight of summer, when the earth 
loses its bright dress and puts on a somber suit of 
gray. 

Frigga had a beautiful dressing-maid and confi- 
dant, named Fulla, who wore rich, flowing tresses, 
bound with a golden band. She was a blithe, bux- 
om damsel, the same to whom Nanna, after her 
journey to Hel’s abode, sent back a finger-ring. 
This maiden had charge of Frigga’s slippers, and 
knew all her secrets. Her name, Fulla, tells us 
that she was the beautiful harvest goddess, or, as 
we might say, peace and plenty. Golden, rippling 
grain-fields are symbolized by the sunny shine and 
sheen of her loose hair. As mistress of the ward- 
robe, she carried Frigga’s casket of jewels, and 
helped both to put on and to take off her queenly 
garments, the verdure and bloom, the flowers and 
fruits of earth. The casket expresses the hidden 
riches of the ground. The veil, which Nanna sent 
from Hel as a present to Frigga, probably hints at 
the mystery with which she covers all her opera- 
tions, while Nanna’s ring is a sign of fruitfulness. 
Nanna could not keep it in the under-world, but 
must return it to earth, though she comes not back 
herself. 

Fulla is Frigga’s dressing-maid, but Gna is her 
messenger, who rides through the air and over the 
sea into all worlds, whither her mistress may send 
her on errands. Her good steed is called Hofvarp- 


3QO TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

nir. Some vans (sea-gods) once saw her riding 
through the air, and called aloud : 

“ What flieth there, 

What goeth there ? 

In the air aloft what glideth ? ” 

To which Gna replied: 

“ I fly not, though I go 
And glide through the air 
On Hofvarpnir, 

Whose sire is Hamskirpir, 

And dam Gardrofa.” 

Gna may be the summer breeze, or a high, rapidly 
moving cloud. The name of her horse, and of his 
father and mother, indicate an airy spirit, borne on- 
ward with great speed. She is related to Frigga as 
Iris is to the Greek Hera, or Juno. 

Another beautiful young goddess, closely con- 
nected with Frigga, is Hlina, or Hlin. She helps 
those whom Frigga wishes to free from danger. 
We know that Hlin is an earth-goddess, because 
Frigga is sometimes called by that name. She is 
the warmth of summer, the life-preserving principle 
in plants, and she guards vegetation from the dan- 
ger of cold. We can imagine this lovely young 
goddess tripping noiselessly about the earth to 
sheath the flowers, and cover the leaf-buds with 
woolly or glazed coats, and to save the sprouting 
grain from late frosts that would gladly destroy 
the promise of the year if good, kind Hlin did not 
spread her cloak over all growing things. 

Sif, the wild grass, is even more famous for her 
head of hair than golden-tressed Fulla. She takes 


THE ASYNJUR. 


391 


possession of mountain sides and uncultivated 
fields, and is kept ever fresh and young by brim- 
ming mountain torrents. She fascinates the' poet’s 
imagination more than Fulla, who provides bread 
for the people. Loki, you know, played her a very 
bad trick by burning up her tresses one hot sum- 
mer, and had to get the underground people to 
make her a new set of golden locks. 

You already know the pathetic story of Nanna, 
the busy activity of summer, who dies with her 
husband, and of Siguna, the hot spring, who 
watches by the chained and tortured Loki. To 
this beautiful group of nature-goddesses — fit subject 
for the pencil of some great artist — belongs Iduna, 
the wife of Bragi. She is called a daughter of the 
elf Ivald, but he is not the same as the father of 
those cunning dwarf smiths, of whom I told you. 
Iduna’s dwelling is called Brunnakr. In Odin’s 
“ Raven Song,” an obscure poem that no one has 
yet interpreted, Iduna falls from Yggdrasill to the 
lower regions. Odin then sends her the dress of a 
wolf, and delegates Heimdall, Bragi, and Loki to 
find out what she knows about the length of time 
that heaven and the lower regions are to endure. 
She does not answer the questions put to her, but 
bursts into tears. Her fall from the universe tree, 
like a leaf, seems to indicate that she is tree verdure, 
as Sif is mountain grass. She protects the fruit of 
life. Loki plots against Iduna as he plots against 
Sif, because in a droughty summer the heat kills and 
dries up the leaves, and exposes the fruits of gardens 
and orchards to danger. She is the symbol of per- 


392 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

petual youth, and can therefore renovate the failing 
energies of the gods, but when she sinks down into 
the under-world, as the leaf sinks into the mold, 
she is sad and weeps, thus symbolizing the melan- 
choly of autumn. Iduna resembles both the Greek 
Proserpine (spring bloom) and Hebe, the cup-bearer 
of the gods. 

Here we have perhaps the most exquisite group 
of nature-goddesses that mythology can furnish. 
There is another group of almost equal beauty 
clustered about Freyja, the Northern Venus, who 
was the loved friend and companion of Frigga, and 
is generally united with her in the Northern fancy. 
Freyja is the love-principle in all nature, and she 
is born of the sea, because of its beauty and its fic- 
kleness. 

Her famous necklace, Brisingamen, is probably 
the phosphorescence of the waves, which gives 
forth exquisite colors. Her necklace seems to be 
related to her power, as the girdle or cestus of 
Aphrodite (Venus) is to hers. Freyja, as you know, 
was the daughter of Njord, the sea-king, and the 
sister of Frey, the earth’s fertility. She was essen- 
tial to the process of growth, as moisture is neces- 
sary to the sprouting plant. She united all beings 
in marriage. 

We know that Freyja was given as a hostage to 
the gods along with her brother. Born of the vans, 
air and sea divinities, she went over to the ^Esir to 
make peace, and here we have another proof of her 
uniting power. Freyja lives in Folks-vang, or among 
the people. She is a goddess of humanity. Her 


THE ASYNJUR. 


393 

hall is called Sessrumnir, (roomy-seated.) She fills 
homes with children, and brings abundance and 
prosperity. But the love which unites men and 
women may be evil as well as good. It may excite 
low passions, stir up strife, and cause bloodshed. 
The character of Freyja is therefore not free from 
violence. She partakes of the nature of a Valkyrja, 
or chooser of the slain, and when she rides to the 
field of battle, one half of the slain belong to her 
and one half to Odin. For this reason she is some- 
times called Valfreyja, goddess of the slain. It has 
been surmised that her mission, as a death-goddess, 
was to reunite husbands and wives who had sin- 
cerely loved each other in this world. 

Freyja delighted in love-songs, and was invoked 
by all lovers. Her character is made up of contra- 
dictions, for it embraces many varieties of love, 
from the divine principle that animates the soul of 
deity down to the brutal instincts of beasts. In all 
aspects she is beautiful, and in some of them terri- 
ble. Freyja married Odur, the intoxicating pleas- 
ure of love, which soon passes away from souls not 
raised to the contemplation of higher things, and 
leaves only sorrow, regret, and satiety. Freyja and 
Odur had one daughter named Hnossa, (highest en- 
joyment,) who is so lovely that whatever is beauti- 
ful and beloved is called by her name. Odur, ow- 
ing to his inconstant nature, left Freyja to visit 
distant lands, and since that time the goddess is 
sad, and often weeps, and her tears are drops of 
pure red gold. She has traveled over the world in 
search of her faithless husband, and she bears many 


394 TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

names, because each people spoke of her in their 
own tongue. 

She is called Mardoll, (sea-nymph,) Horn, (im- 
petuous current,) Gefn, (giver,) and Syr and Van- 
adis, (beautiful sea-nymph.) Most of these names 
relate to Freyja, as a sea-goddess, and point to her 
origin and birth. The treacherous, uncertain na- 
ture of the sea is allied to the caprice and fickleness 
of earthly passion. Water raised to vapor forms 
the beauty of the visible heaven, as love exalted 
becomes perfect spiritual beauty; but love brought 
down into the mire is like water in muddy ditches. 
Freyja presides in the home where happy children 
surround their loving parents, and there she is a 
good and beneficent providence. In spite of all 
her caprices she is captivating to the fancy, and will 
ever remain the poet’s idol. 

Frey and Freyja are different aspects of the same 
principle, and really mean master and mistress. 
Frey is the deity of noble, well-born men, and 
Freyja, of women of exalted station, who were 
called Freyjor. She sheds the charm and sweetness 
of life over such as these, and in her essence finds 
easy access to all hearts. There is a myth of late 
date and small value, which relates how Freyja gave 
herself to some skilled dwarfs to win the necklace, 
Brisingamen, which they had made. Loki discov- 
ered the fact, and revealed it to Odin, who com- 
manded him to get possession of the necklace. 
This was difficult to do, as Freyja kept it in her 
locked bower. The weather was cold, and made 
the fire-god shiver, but,- at last, he transformed him- 


THE ASYNJUR. 


395 


self into a fly and slipped through a hole in the 
roof. Thus he contrived to secure the ornament, 
and, unlocking the bower, departed with it to Odin. 
But Freyja is not slow in discovering the trick by 
which she has been defrauded, and, repairing to 
Odin’s hall, she upbraids him with the theft, and 
recovers her necklace. 

This myth is not very ancient in its present form, 
but its main outlines may have been borrowed from 
one much older, and, if so, it undoubtedly relates to 
Freyja as a nature-goddess. She surrenders herself 
to the dwarfs — the subtle, silent, busy powers of 
growth in the dark ground, and secures Brisinga- 
men, the aurora of beauty that in summer crowns 
sea and air and earth. Her locked bower is prob- 
ably the ice-bound winter world, which Loki, the 
fire-god, melts and penetrates. He carries the neck- 
lace off to heaven, but Freyja, by complaining to 
Allfather, recovers her treasure, and then skies be- 
gin to soften, and the glow of spring beauty plays 
over all nature. 

Freyja had her earthly favorites whom she helped 
and protected. In the story of Hyndla, she visits 
the giantess, Hyndla, and requests her to ride to 
Valhalla and ask success for her Norse favorite, 
Ottur, who has been deprived of his estates, and is 
obliged to go to law. She promises to give the 
giantess a safe conduct, and to appease Odin and 
Thor, who are the rank enemies of her race. In 
order to make good his title to the disputed prop- 
erty, Ottur must enumerate the names of all his 
ancestors; but he is ignorant of the past, though 


396 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

devoted to the worship of Freyja. The goddess 
wishes to help him, but not being sufficiently versed 
in the knowledge of antiquity, which belongs to the 
older giant race, she goes to wise Hyndla, who is 
thoroughly informed in regard to the pedigrees and 
the destinies of gods and men. 

Hyndla consents to give an account of Ottur’s 
ancestors, and of several noble old Northern fam- 
ilies. She concludes by speaking of the origin of 
the gods, and of a god more mighty than all, who 
is to come after Ragnarock, and whom she dare 
not name. She refuses to prophesy beyond the 
twilight of the gods. Freyja then requests her to 
give Ottur a drink of remembrance that he may 
be able to recall all he has heard two days hence, 
when his lawsuit comes on. Hyndla refuses the 
request, and indulges in abusive language ; where- 
upon Freyja breaks forth in wrath, and threatens 
to build a fire around the giantess unless she com- 
plies. At the breaking out of the morning aurora 
Hyndla gives the drink, but she places a curse upon 
it, which Freyja removes by blessings and prayers 
to all gods for the success of Ottur’s lawsuit. 

Freyja’s encounter with Hyndla seems to point 
to some old nature-myth, of the struggle of the 
principle of growth with the giant resistance of the 
frozen ground. On this has been grafted one of 
those fabulous legends so gratifying to the vanity 
of the ancients, by which they traced their lineage 
up to the gods. As Freyja watches over the growth 
of families she is the presiding deity at Hyndla’s 
narration. 


THE ASYNJUR. 


397 


We can now contemplate Freyja in the whole 
course of her development. We see her first as a 
van or spirit of air and water, who must aid her 
brother Frey in fructifying the ground. Presently 
she is transformed into the capricious, wayward, 
idolized deity, who unites all beings in love. Then 
she appears at the family hearth — dignified, noble, 
serene — surrounding family life with the holiest 
sanctions. Then we see her as a war-goddess, com- 
pletely armed, who, by the violence of her sway, 
leads to deeds of blood. Then she is the race-god- 
dess, watching over the genealogical tree, and wa- 
tering it with the cup of remembrance ; and, lastly, 
she is the goddess of death, who receives her quota 
of slain heroes and the souls of noble women into 
her heavenly abode. 

Freyja was so closely united to her beloved 
brother, Frey, in all her attributes and symbols, 
that she, too, possessed a golden boar, called Gullin- 
bursti, or Hilda’s vini, (the swine of war,) which was 
made for her by the dwarfs Dani and Nabbi. This 
wonderful pig lights up the thickest darkness with 
its golden bristles. It is said that the feminine 
title of rank in Denmark and Germany — fru, frue, 
and frau — can be traced to its root in Freyja. Thus 
the queen of love, who so long ruled over men's 
hearts, still gives her name to the queen of society 
and the mistress of the family. 

Grouped around Freyja are several subordinate 
goddesses of a kindred nature. Liofn or Sjofn is one 
of these, who brings thoughts of love to both men 
and women. A lover is called Liafin. Lofna, is a 


398 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

goddess appealed to by those who have love troub- 
les. She has the permission of Odin or Freyja to 
bring together those who love each other in spite 
of all difficulties. She is called Lof, praise, because 
she is a goddess beloved and praised by men. 
Vara, is the goddess who listens attentively to 
troth plighted between men and women, and pun- 
ishes those who break their vows. She is wise and 
sagacious, and nothing can be hidden from her. 
As love is secret, she is endowed with marvelous 
insight. 

Besides these two great groups of goddesses — one, 
presiding over the earth’s fruitfulness, and creating 
the comfort of physical life, the other uniting men 
and women by love, and presiding over homes, 
families, and domestic peace — there remain several 
others, having distinct functions. Eir is a good 
doctress or leech. Among the ancient Germans, 
Tacitus tells us, women had in their keeping all the 
secrets of leech-craft. Their knowledge probably 
did not extend further than the properties of roots 
and herbs, nor their surgical skill beyond the power 
to stanch bleeding, and bind up wounds. There 
were also spae-women, or enchantresses, in the 
North, who were supposed to have miraculous heal- 
ing power. Doubtless, magic arts entered very 
largely into all leech-craft. Those early doctresses 
were about as well skilled in the healing art as the 
medicine-men of our native Indians. But, as all 
the medical art that existed was entirely in the 
hands of women, it was eminently proper that the 
divine doctor should wear a woman’s form. 


THE ASYNJUR. 


399 


I have already spoken of Saga, goddess of history, 
who sits and converses with Odin by the ever-flow- 
ing stream of Time. She is one of the noblest figures 
in all mythology. 

There are several goddesses drawn from the giant 
race. The giant maidens differ materially. Some 
of them are wise and lovely, others are malignant 
and hideous to behold. Gefjon marries with the 
giants, although she belongs to the Asynjur. 
There is a legend about Gefjon which shows that 
the Danes had good cause to worship her : King 
Gylfi the Wise, a man well skilled in magic, the same 
who questions the gods in the prose Edda, once 
ruled over the land which is now called Svithiod, 
(Sweden.) It is told of him that, on a certain occa- 
sion, he gave a stranger woman who had pleased 
him with a song, as much of his kingdom as she 
could plow in a day and a night. This woman was 
called Gefjon. She took four oxen from the North 
out of giant world. They were the four sons she 
had borne to a giant. These she harnessed to a 
plow, which made such a very deep furrow that it 
detached part of the land of Sweden. The oxen 
drew the fragment away westward out to sea, and 
there the goddess established the land and called it 
Sseland. Where the land was plowed and drawn 
away now appeared a lake called Malar Lake, and 
the inlets and bays of this lake correspond exactly 
with the headlands of Saeland. This is a geograph- 
ical myth, and shows the very fanciful manner in 
which the ancients accounted for the configuration 
of sea and land. 


400 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

We have three principal forms under which the 
ocean is symbolized. Mimir’s well is the great en- 
circling deep, where the sun sinks and where Odin 
goes to drink in wisdom. ^Egir signifies the stormy, 
turbulent mid-ocean, friendly to the gods in fair 
weather, and with whom they annually feast. Njord, 
the gentle shore divinity, inhabits the ship-meadow, 
and has been fully adopted into the ^Esir family. 
He is a pledge that the ocean shall not destroy the 
land. 

Ran, zEgir’s wife, represents the cruel, craving na- 
ture of the sea, which strives to swallow all that 
floats upon it. Her name means robbery, or rob- 
bing, ^and expresses the desire of the sea for a hu- 
man sacrifice. She catches the bodies of drowned 
people in her net, and keeps them in her own abode. 
She has nine beautiful daughters, the waves, who 
are not friendly to human beings. In some parts of 
England a water-spout is still called an ^Egir, after 
the old, long-forgotten god of the sea.* 

There were local gods worshiped in some parts 
of the North who did not belong to the zEsir family. 
They were probably remains of an old religious sys- 
tem which had mainly perished or been driven into 
obscurity. One of these was Halogi, (high flame,) 
or Helgi, (holy,) who was a king of the district, and 
gave his name to Halogaland, or Holgaland. 


* On the eastern coast of England the great tidal wave frojn Hel- 
igoland, which smites the shores and runs up the rivers with such 
resistless force twice every day, is still called the ZEgir by people of 
all ranks and classes. They have forgotten the old sea-god, but 
still perpetuate his name in the huge, foaming billow. — E d. 


THE ASYNJUR. 


401 


He may have been, as his name indicates, an old 
Finnish fire-god. He had three daughters — Thor- 
gerd, Horgabrud, and Irpa. The first of these was 
devoutly worshiped by wicked old Hakon Jarl, who, 
it is said, sacrificed to her his little seven-year-old 
boy, Erling, to gain a victory over the Jomsberg 
pirates. Thorgerd was a fighting goddess, and is 
said to have appeared on this occasion in a raging 
hail-storm from the North. The superstitious 
pirates thought they saw both Thorgerd and her 
sister Irpa on board the jari’s ship. An arrow flew 
from each of her fingers, and every arrow slaugh- 
tered a man. This ferocious goddess was also wor- 
shiped in Iceland. 

26 


402 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND ANCIENT WORSHIP. 
ORTHERN mythology contains but a small 



1 ^1 amount of direct moral teaching; but, small 
as it is, it is more than can be found in kindred sys- 
tems of ancient faith. The savage man feels the 
need of propitiating spirits by prayer and sacrifice 
before he feels the need of maxims to guide him in 
his dealings with his neighbor. Men did not meet 
together in the temples to be instructed in duty, 
but to appease and gratify the gods. Such religious 
instruction as they received was given them by the 
godi, or priest, who delivered the asa doctrines 
orally, often in the form of odes or ballads, which 
were probably recited at the festivals. The ballads 
composing the elder Edda may have been thus re- 
cited at Yule-tide and other great meetings. 

Allfather was judged a righteous god, who gave 
victory in battle to the just cause. But we are no- 
where told that the fallen hero who embraced the 
unjust cause was barred out of Valhalla. Some 
scholars would have us believe that traces of a 
higher doctrine are to be found, both in the Eddas 
and in the later Sagas. We are told that iniquitous 
men, through brave, could not enter Valhalla: that 
the state after death was according to the life. 


MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 403 

“To the good death appeared as a bright goddess 
of deliverance; to the wicked as a dark and pursu- 
ing deity.” 

This interpretation of the Norse doctrine of future 
rewards and punishments is mainly based on that 
passage in the Edda where three classes of sinners 
are mentioned who will endure endless torments in 
Nastrond. These are murderers, perjurers, and the 
betrayers of other men’s wives. Probably any man, 
though as brave as Odin, who committed either or 
all of these crimes would be excluded from Val- 
halla. Hel’s abode was not a place of torment. 
Her name is generally derived from a root meaning 
intense cold, and in the popular stories Hel is 
always spoken of as a cold place where provisions 
are scanty. The great German scholar, Grimm, de- 
rives Hel from a word meaning to conceal, in the 
sense of subterranean. We know her realm was not 
a place of punishment, because Baldur, the bright 
god of innocence, went there to live after death, 
and received great honors in Hel. The latest theory 
in regard to the underground world of the dead 
traces its origin to the very ancient custom of cave- 
burial. As the soul was supposed to live in the 
grave with the body, the idea was gradually devel- 
oped of a vast subterranean region inhabited exclu- 
sively by spirits. 

The characters of the gods had a powerful indirect 
moral influence on the minds and the conduct of 
their worshipers. The people chose favorite deities, 
and their whole lives were more or less shaped in 
conformity to these ideals. There were a few 


404 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

broad, simple, moral principles like honor, purity, 
courage, hospitality, and truth, which the gods 
seemed to inculcate by example. Only large dis- 
tinctions of right and wrong were much regarded. 
In a general way it was believed that the gods 
would reward righteousness and punish injustice. 
Courage took precedence of all the virtues. A man 
might be a saint in other respects, but if he was a 
coward there was a doom reserved for him equal 
to that of malefactors. There is a certain consist- 
ency in the glorification of courage in its best sense ; 
for without it the most saintly virtues seem to lack 
a solid foundation. But the abuse of courage, stim- 
ulating the war-like and aggressive spirit, has filled 
the world with graves. 

Among the Eddaic poems there is one devoted 
to ethics, or morals, called the Hava-mal. In old 
times the simple people believed that Odin had 
composed this poem and given it to mankind for 
their guidance ; but it is, in fact, only a string of 
maxims which embody the earliest practical wis- 
dom of the people about every-day life, and which 
we call proverbs. Many of these are shrewd bits of 
common-sense, which tell men howto manage their 
affairs and to insure peace at home and pros- 
perity in business. They are hints toward a pru- 
dent and well-regulated life, which probably grew 
into their present form in the experience and prac- 
tice of ages. 

Among a people much given to quaffing huge 
horns of beer the duty of temperance would naturally 
be enjoined by the old proverb-maker. “ The more 


MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 405 

the drunkard swallows,” says the Hava-mal, “ the 
less is his wisdom, until he loses his reason. The 
bird of oblivion sings before those who inebriate 
themselves, and steals away their souls.” 

In another sentence we have the germ of several 
English proverbs about home ; and we see how very 
long and deep are the roots of this sacred love of 
home and hearth said to be peculiar to Northern 
nations, and which underlies so much that is beau- 
tiful in domestic life : “ One’s home is the best 
home, though never so small. Every thing one 
eats at home is sweet. He who lives at another 
man’s table is often obliged to wrong his palate.” 

In the next sentence is drawn the broad dividing 
line between heathenism and Christianity. The 
Gospel says, “ Love your enemies, do good to them 
that hate you and despitefully use you,” but all 
over the heathen world these maxims of the Hava- 
mal prevailed : “ Love both your friends and your 
friends’ friends ; but do not favor the friend of your 
enemy. Make your friend’s misfortune your own, 
but give your enemy no peace.” 

There are several beautiful sentiments pertaining 
to friendship : “ Never be the first to break off 
rashly with your friend. Sorrow consumes the 
heart when you have no one to whom you can open 
your whole mind. That is communion of soul 
where each can say confidentially to the other all 
his thoughts. Any thing is better than to be false. 
He is not a friend who speaks only fair words.” 

Though the Norsemen dearly loved the sunshine 
and the bright gold of the South, they were neither 


4 06 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

sordid nor ungenerous in their use of money. The 
Hava-mal says : “ While we live let us live well, for 
be a man never so rich when he lights his fire, 
death may perhaps enter his door before it is burned 
out. Remember that earthly riches are perishable, 
and in connection therewith struggle to gain a good 
reputation and a renown which shall reach beyond 
this life, and be cherished and honored by posterity. 
The master of the house should be cheerful at home, 
kind to his guests, and circumspect. Let him be 
attentive and affable.” 

So few Norsemen were satisfied with their lot 
that the sage of the Hava-mal felt it incumbent 
upon him to enjoin contentment as a supreme vir- 
tue : “ The heart alone knows what passes within 
the heart, and that which betrays the soul is the 
soul itself. There is no sickness or malady more 
severe than not to be content with one’s lot.” 

The next passages show a wise tolerance of hu- 
man weakness and infirmity, a belief in the soul of 
good in things evil : “ Where is there to be found 
a virtuous man without some failing, or one so 
wicked as to have no good quality ? The recogni- 
tion of man’s imperfections should challenge in him 
a struggle against his own evil propensities, and 
forbearance toward the weakness of others.” 

These are a few of the most striking passages in 
the old Norse book of morals. It is too long to 
insert as a whole, and would teach us nothing new 
as to the character and customs of the people. 

The myth-making age is distinct from the age 
which produces systems of morals. The one is a 


MORALITY, . SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 4 oy 

childish period, when the gods are supposed to 
chiefly take note of the observance or neglect of 
their worship. The other is a thoughtful age, when 
deity is supposed to give more heed to man’s treat- 
ment of his brother than to prayers and oblations. 
The gods of mythology, especially those typical of 
the various activities of nature, are moral in their 
essence, although they may not seem so in their 
lives. Odin unites himself to Frigga, to Rinda, and 
to Gunlod, but as soon as we know that these va- 
rious wives are different states of the earth — the 
fruitful, the frozen, and the hidden strength of the 
ground — the immoral idea vanishes, and Allfather 
is saved from reproach. Nearly every process of 
animate and inanimate nature was pictured to the 
mind under the form of a marriage, and perhaps 
.it might be shown that this idea is as philosophical 
as ft is highly poetical. 

The government, whether in Norway under kings 
and jarls, or in Iceland under priestly chieftains 
ruling over things, was always aristocratic. There 
is a curious old myth showing how the different so- 
cial orders which divided the ancient Scandinavian 
world came into being. In this story Heimdall, 
who was the guardian of heaven, figures as a sun- 
god, and wanders through green ways and along the 
sea-shore. He is a strong, active, upright deity, and 
takes the name of Rig or Rigi. The earth was then 
but thinly peopled with the immediate descendants 
of Ask and Embla, the first man and woman. 
Heimdall first visits a hut inhabited by Ai and 
Edda, (great-grandfather and great-grandmother.) 


408 tales from THE NORSE grandmother. 

He is warmly welcomed, and remains three nights. 
He then goes on to where Afi (grandfather) and 
Amma (grandmother) live in a more comfortable 
dwelling, and pays them a like visit. Lastly he 
wends his way to Fadir (father) and Modir, (moth- 
er,) who possess a splendid mansion. 

Owing to his beneficent power it happens that 
each hostess gives birth to a child some months 
after his visit. The babies are sprinkled with water 
at the moment of birth, according to an old Norse 
custom identical with infant baptism. Edda’s 
(great-grandmother’s) child was born in a hut, and 
is the natural slave of his betters. He is named 
Thrall. Amma’s (grandmother’s) son is called Churl, 
and is a peg higher in the social scale. He is the 
ancestor of the peasant race. But Modir’s son re- 
ceives the name of Jarl, (earl.) He marries Erna, a 
daughter of Hersir, (baron,) and the youngest of 
their sons is named Konng, (king.) 

All three children have a numerous offspring; but 
Rig particularly watches over the race of nobles, 
and is anxious about their nurture and education. 
The poor little Thralls and Churls must scramble 
up in life as best they can. The Thralls have black 
hair, and are coarse and uncouth in feature, and 
of low, deformed stature. They are born clodhop- 
pers, and must toil unceasingly that by their labor 
the Churls may obtain sufficient yield from the soil 
to enable them to pay a high rent to the nobles, 
who live in splendor and without work. Thrall’s 
sons bear names appropriate to their low origin, and 
are called Frowsy, Stumpy, Plumpy, Sootyface, 


MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 409 

Slowpace, and Homespun. The daughters are 
known as Lazybody, Cranefoot, and Smokynose. 

The Churls were a little better formed than the 
Thrall family. They are described as having red 
hair and a florid complexion. The sons were 
named Stiffbeard, Husbandman, Smith, etc. ; and 
the daughters, who, in beauty and grace, are con- 
siderably superior to Thralls’ maidens, are called 
Pretty-face, Swan-neck, Blithe-speech, and Chatter- 
box. 

The Nobles are renowned for beauty. They 
have fair hair, clear white skins, and piercing eyes. 
Their sole occupation is to practice with the sword 
and javelin, and to break and ride fiery steeds. 
They employ themselves in hunting and the chase, 
and kill time by many elegant amusements. The 
names of Jarls’ sons denote relationship, like cousin 
and nephew. They mark the importance of family 
ties and the value of aristocratic blood. 

This curious old myth indicates the high-water 
mark of the caste spirit in the JJorth. The poet 
gratifies his aristocratic passion by inventing a dis- 
tinct origin for each social order, but, oddly enough, 
he makes the Thrall family older than all others. 
Thrall and Churl were obliged to subdue the earth 
by their labor, and make it a pleasant abode for the 
high-born fighting Jarl. For ages the ideas contained 
in this myth operated to keep down the toiling mill- 
ions under the heel of the aristocratic class. Only 
a little more than a century ago did the world be- 
gin to learn the great lesson that God created all 
men free and equal, instead of showing the cruel 


410 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

injustice and partiality which would have con- 
demned poor Edda’s son to eternal vassalage. 

The truth, so simple to us, that all men are enti- 
tled to the fruits of their labor, and to the means 
of education and improvement, cost millions of 
lives, and created the greatest revolution the world 
has ever known. It was after Jarl had brutalized 
the children of Thrall and Churl, and deprived them 
of every right by binding them down as slaves of 
the soil on which they labored, that he probably 
employed his skald, or poet, to invent the above 
fable. But the day came when poor Thrall and 
Churl began to understand that they too were hu- 
man beings, and had the power to think and speak, 
and to call themselves men. They too learned the 
use of weapons in self-defense and in fighting for 
their own liberty, and since that time Jarl has been 
less loud in his claims, and more modest in the as- 
sertion that he was made by a separate act of crea- 
tion, and was the especial favorite of heaven. 
Thrall and Churl, reduced to the extreme limit of 
misery and degradation, which they could no longer 
endure, brought about the French Revolution, and 
have struck almost every blow for freedom in mod- 
ern times. We now call them the sovereign peo- 
ple. 

The aristocratic and caste spirit was very strong 
in the North. The Norman conquerors brought it 
over into England, and the Norman barons were 
the proudest and haughtiest men of their day. 
But the spirit of civil and religious liberty was 
stronger than caste, or feudal privilege, and folded 


MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 41 1 

up within it, like the flower in the bud, lay our own 
glorious Declaration of Independence. 

In heathen days three great festivals were cele- 
brated every year, when there was much sacrificing 
to the gods, and a general time of feasting. The 
first, as I have told you, was held at the new year, 
and corresponded to our Christmas, for in the North 
the year began with the winter solstice, (December 
21,) which was poetically called the mother-night, 
because the new year leaped forth from its arms. 
The great sacrifice at this season was called Thora- 
blot, after some old god of the ancient Finnish peo- 
ple, as it is supposed. The Yule merry-making was 
celebrated in England for centuries after the estab- 
lishment of Christianity, and to this day the Yule- 
log is burned at Christmas-tide. The great things, 
or assemblies, were held at Yule, and kings and 
jarls, in all that Northern country, made grand 
feasts. The rich brewed great hogsheads of beer 
for their dependents and neighbors, but the poor, 
who had no wealthy friends, clubbed together and 
held feasts of their own, where they drank immense 
quantities of what was called social ale. The term 
“ social glass” has probably come down to us from 
this custom. The Christmas feasting, the greens 
and revelry, are a heritage from heathen times, but 
the giving of gifts may be a purely Christian cus- 
tom. 

A great number of animals were slaughtered at 
Yule, and offered principally to Odin, with the 
prayer that he would send success in war, and to 
Frey, for a fruitful year. War and farming were 


412 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

the two principal avocations in early times ; but, 
later on, sea-roving absorbed the life and energies 
of the people. In Sweden, where Frey was the fa- 
vorite god, swine were slaughtered in large quanti- 
ties. The swine, it was believed, had first taught 
men to plow, perhaps by rooting up the earth with 
its snout. Hogs were especially fattened for Yule, 
as we fatten turkeys for Thanksgiving, and were led 
out, gayly trimmed and adorned. The Northern 
people were much given to making vows, and these 
were sometimes made over the carcass of a sacred 
pig, but more frequently when quaffing huge bum- 
pers at the Yule feast. Then those fierce, impetu- 
ous jarls and barons indulged in the wildest prom- 
ises, and planned mighty feats of arms. The whole 
of Yule-month was given up to mirth, revelry, and 
games. It was called the merry month. In En- 
gland, until comparatively recent- times, twelve days 
were celebrated at Christmas. The hearty mirth of 
the old pagan festival was very dear to the people. 
They would not let it die, but grafted the lovely 
celebration of the infant Jesus upon this ancient 
stock. The coloring, feasting, and merriment of 
our Christmas can be traced back ages upon ages, 
perhaps to the old home of the race in the mid- 
lands of Asia. 

The mid-winter sacrifice quickly followed Yule. 
It was held at the first new moon after the great 

o 

new year festival, in honor of the earth-goddess, 
Goa, who was called the daughter of Thois, and 
was thought to rule over the earth’s fertility. 
Probably Frigga was associated with her, but in 


MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 413 

time the worship of an ancient mythical queen, 
named Disa, almost supplanted the other goddesses 
at this feast. 

The myth about Queen Disa is very curious, and 
may have some remote foundation in fact. Far 
back in heathen ages King Frey ruled in the North, 
and the inhabitants increased so rapidly, that one 
winter they found themselves destitute of food ; so 
Frey decreed, as a quick and easy solution of the 
difficulty, that all the old, sickly, deformed, and 
idle people should be offered up in sacrifice to 
Odin. But the daughter of one of the king’s min- 
isters, when she heard of this decree, made bold to 
say that she could give better advice. This was 
reported to the king, and, when he heard of it, he 
was angry at the maid’s presumption, and sarcastic- 
ally promised to take her into his council, on con- 
dition that she came to him neither on foot nor on 
horseback, neither driving nor sailing, neither clad 
nor unclad, not in a year nor a month, not by day 
nor by night, not in the moon’s increase nor in its 
wane. 

Disa was at a loss how to solve this practical rid- 
dle ; but she prayed to the goddess Frigga, and, 
having received her advice, went to the king in the 
following manner : she harnessed two young men to 
a sledge, and a goat was led by the side. One foot 
she placed in the sledge, the other on the goat’s 
back. She covered herself with a net, and came 
neither in a year nor month, but on the third day 
before Yule, one of the days not reckoned as be- 
longing to the year, but as a complementary day 


4H TALES from THE NORSE grandmother. 

not included in any month. She came neither in 
the waxing nor the waning moon, but in the full ; 
neither by day nor by night, but in the twilight. 
All the conditions were fulfilled, for she neither 
walked nor rode, drove nor sailed ; neither did she 
come clad nor unclad. The king was charmed with 
her wisdom, beauty, and excellent conversation, and 
made her his queen. He followed her advice by 
dividing the people by lot, and sending one portion 
to the uninhabited regions of the North to estab- 
lish a colony. Disa was highly prized for her wis- 
dom, and became an arbitrator and settler of dis- 
putes. The great mid-winter festival was in time 
celebrated in her honor; and in modern days there 
is a mid-winter fair held at Upsala, in Sweden, 
which may be a lingering remnant of ancient cus- 
toms. 

This pretty myth of the humane Disa may refer to 
the actual formation of a new colony under the guid- 
ance of the good goddess of agriculture. Her claim 
to be considered a historical character is the same as 
that of Frey and Odin, and neither has the authority 
of great age. We are told that Frey took the king- 
dom after the death of his father Njord, and the 
land was blessed with good seasons. The supersti- 
tious Swedes attributed these to Frey and began to 
worship him. When he died they carried him 
secretly into a mound and told the people that he 
was alive. They kept watch over him for three 
years, and brought all the taxes into the mound, 
and peace and prosperity continued. 

However she may have originated, Disa unques- 


MORALITY, SOCIAL LIFE, AND WORSHIP. 415 

tionably became an earth-goddess. According to 
some scholars, she represents the nearly bare earth 
in early spring, when grass starts and buds swell, 
but the ground is neither clad nor unclad. Then it 
is not good to travel in sledge nor wagon, and the 
husbandman must watch the changes of the heav- 
enly bodies and all the influences of the season. 
Disa softens the hard frozen heart of her spouse 
and renders him merciful. 

The third great festival is held at the beginning 
of spring to sacrifice to Odin, and render him favor- 
able to the naval and warlike expeditions then pre- 
paring. The winter put an end to the Norseman’s 
favorite vocation — warfare ; and with the opening 
spring he invoked Odin and rushed to arms. 


41 6 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

O the forgotten poets, whose names have per- 



P ished, we owe such magnificent myths as Ygg- 
drasill, the death of Baldur, the twilight of the 
gods, and the restoration of the universe. All these, 
and others, sprang from the observation of nature 
on a grand scale. But the common people, the un- 
learned peasantry, with minds uncultivated, but with 
feelings and fancy very lively, conceived of nature 
in a different way, and filled the whole world with 
homely, familiar, but often poetic, images. 

The wild Northern scenery was lonely and op- 
pressive to the heart, although sublime. The peas- 
ant brought it more in sympathy with himself by 
peopling the vast snowy jokul, the rugged stony 
fells, and the endless evergreen forests, with swarm- 
ing trolls, elves, and dwarfs. The waters he filled 
with mermaids and mermen, fountain and swan 
maidens, and the dangerous Neck. These beings 
made the world a more companionable place, and 
imparted a kind of living interest to every knoll and 
stream. They had it in their power to do him 
great injury and to annoy him with petty mischief; 
but they gave a vivid charm to life, for they embod- 
ied the spirit of romance, which brightens the hum- 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 417 

blest existence and inspires the highest order of 
genius. Shakspeare’s Ariel and Puck, the most 
delightful creations of fairy lore, are only expan- 
sions of the elf of mythology. 

Still the elves of Northern folk-lore are not pre- 
cisely the same as the elves of the JEsir religion : 
those busy little powers of nature at work in the 
formation of gems and metals and about the roots 
and fibers of plants. The nature-powers have been 
forgotten, and the elves of the story-books are 
-almost human, except in their diminutive size, and 
the fact that they live in an underground world of 
their own, which is pretty accurately planned on the 
model of the world of men and women. The theory 
that these elves were originally ghosts peopling the 
interior of the globe fails to explain their small 
stature. How did the idea of a race of little peo- 
ple arise ? Some scholars tell us that it grew out of 
traditions of a nation of small men who inhabited 
the land before it was occupied by invaders from 
the East. 

Not content with filling the whole of the under- 
ground world with busy, grotesque, long-armed, 
little folk, the Norse peasant brought them into his 
own home, and made of them kind or mischievous 
household spirits, who, if well treated, brought good 
luck to the master, or played roguish tricks when 
mocked by the children or servants. He was glad 
to have these little beings inhabit the place under 
his hearthstone, his barn, and stable, or the cottage 
loft under the thatch. After the introduction of 
Christianity, true to his old instinct, he gave a spirit 
27 


4 1 8 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

to the church and church-yard. It is said that only 
the nations belonging to the great Aryan family 
possess a fairy lore. The English fairy and the 
Northern elf-wife is one and the same being modi- 
fied by climate and national character. 

The popular elf combined the attributes of both 
the light and dark elves of mythology. The troll 
who lives in the stony fell, who shuns the light 
of day, and is a great glutton, is the transformed 
jotun of the old religion. All the bloody-minded 
giants of our nursery tales are lineal descendants 
of the icebergs and mountains with which Thor 
fought. The myths have been degraded into 
little stories to amuse or frighten children, and 
most of the ancient religious ideas that float 
about among the people are fossilized in what is 
called folk-lore. 

Let us then keep in mind that elves and fairies 
were probably, in the first place, only the thoughts 
of heathen people about light and darkness, the 
growth of plants, and the wonders of gems and 
metals buried in the earth. If they arose from a 
race of small people, or from the ghosts of these 
people after death, their origin was lost, and in time 
they became parts of wonder-working nature. Let 
us remember that trolls and giants, even the giants 
of our nursery rhymes, were in the first place ice- 
bergs and craggy mountains. But the active fancy 
of the people played about these beings and worked 
them over into new forms, giving them a thousand 
human traits, and thus bringing them nearer to 
themselves. The priests and teachers of Christian- 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 419 

ity found the dear old superstitions too thoroughly 
ingrained to be got rid of, and in some cases they 
invented new legends to account for them, and in 
time the origin of the popular beliefs was forgotten, 
while the beliefs themselves still flourished, as many 
of them do to this day. 

There is a curious Christian legend to account for 
the origin of elves, or under-groundlings. In this 
it is stated that they are descended from Adam by 
his first wife, a sorceress named Lileth, who is men- 
tioned in some old rabbinical books. One day 
Lileth was washing her children when our Lord ap- 
proached, and for shame she hid those of them that 
remained unwashed. Our Lord inquired if the 
children before him were all she had, and the false 
Lileth answered “ Yes ; ” whereupon he said, “ Let 
those that are hidden remain hidden,” and from the 
concealed children of Lileth descended all the sub- 
terranean people. 

Another legend, found with slight variations in 
several Northern countries, tells us that elves and 
under-groundlings generally are descended from the 
fallen angels who were cast out of heaven at the 
time of Satan’s revolt, the worst of whom fell into 
hell, while others not so wicked fell into woods and 
forests, into green fields, into the water, and among 
houses. Those who fell in woods and forests be- 
came wood trolls, those who fell in green fields 
Vaettir, those who fell into water necks, or Nacher, 
those among houses Tomte-buggar, and those in 
trees Elfvar. These five varieties embrace the 
larger part of the invisible people who take up so 


420 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

much room in the Northern fancy, and are known 
under the general term of elves, although the stories 
about them vary slightly in different countries. 

The superstitious peasants dare not meddle with 
trees, caves, mounds, and barrows where they are 
supposed to live ; and it is said that the custom of 
making offerings to propitiate their good-will has 
not entirely died out. The antiquity of these pop- 
ular superstitions, under their present form, is at- 
tested by the most ancient historians, who testify 
to the fact that the Northern people worship many 
spirits in heaven, air, earth, and sea, and some that 
are said to inhabit the waters of springs and rivers. 

Though these little people were powerless to ex- 
pel their human foes, they could annoy them and 
do much mischief by driving off cattle, changing 
children at birth, and enticing young maidens into 
caves and giving them stupefying drinks. From 
these ideas arose the innumerable stories of en- 
chantments and changelings. The greatest care 
was taken of a new-born baby, lest the elfin people 
should steal it away and put one of their own un- 
canny little creatures in its place. The great Dr. 
Martin Luther believed in changelings, and thought 
he had seen one. He adjudged them to be mere 
lumps of flesh without souls. One mode of getting 
rid of a changeling was to beat it unmercifully, 
when the elfin mother would appear and take away 
her child, leaving the true one in its place. It is 
probable that the changelings of old times, with 
which the folk-stories teem, were idiotic children, 
diseased and malformed from their birth. 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 42 1 

There is a great diversity of popular opinion con- 
cerning the elves. In some places they are as large 
as men, white, fair, and in the main well-disposed 
toward human beings. Others among them are 
only eighteen inches high. They wear glass shoes 
and have very delicate hands and feet. Some ap- 
pear as little naked boys, wearing a hat. In Ger- 
many they wear a mist cap or mantle which ren- 
ders them invisible, like the garment Knight Sieg- 
fried won from the dwarf Andvari. They are very 
clever smiths, and, though good-humored, are mis- 
chievous and meddlesome. It is believed that the 
German elves have adopted the true faith, and ar- 
dently desire salvation through Jesus Christ. 

In Norway many fine old trees are supposed to 
be the homes of elves, and are regarded with pecul- 
iar veneration. The owners cherish these elf-trees 
with the greatest care, and fancy that their good 
or bad luck depends upon the tree’s life. This su- 
perstition has its gentle aspect, for it sometimes 
prevents the peasant from desecrating the wood- 
land, and thus adds to the fertility of the soil and 
the beauty of the country-side. It is almost need- 
less to speak of the proverbial elfin fondness for 
dancing by moonlight over the wet grass in merry 
rings. Though dwarfs and elves are pretty well* 
blended together in the North, in Norway, we are 
told, the dwarfs are regarded as solitary and unso- 
cial, while the elves are passionately fond of music 
and dancing. There was another side of elfin char- 
acter less cheerful. Certain diseases of cattle were 
attributed to the under-groundlings, and there was 


422 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

a superstition that their breath or spittle caused 
swelling in human beings. The wives of elves were 
very beautiful in front, but behind they were hollow 
and hideous. This curious idea of hollowness, we 
shall see, applies to more than one class of sub- 
terraneans. 

Other classes of Norwegian elves are called Thus- 
ser and Vaettir. There is some reason to suppose 
that the thusser were the ancient inhabitants, from 
the fact that an old historian tells us that in Norway 
the thusser so swarmed that it was impossible for 
Christians to live in the country until they had in- 
termarried with them. There are numerous stories 
of the intermarriage of mortals with elves and gi- 
ants ; and some historic persons are said to have 
been descended from them, either on one side or 
the other. The elves possess beautiful black cattle, 
which are generally invisible, but sometimes show 
themselves in the light of day, and often graze un- 
seen among the flocks of men. 

One of the most curious Northern nymphs is 
Huldra, who seems to form a connecting link be- 
tween human beings and the animal tribes. In front 
she is a lovely woman, clad in a blue petticoat 
and a white snood, but behind she is either hollow 
or furnished with a cow’s tail. Her mixed nature 
imparts deep pathos to her character, for her life is 
solitary and her song sad. We do, however, some- 
times hear of Huldre-men as well as women. These 
people are supposed to take possession of aban- 
doned pastures, and occasionally they live in mounds 
like the under-groundlings. To get possession of a 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 423 

Huldra it is necessary to throw steel oyer her head. 
There are stories of beautiful Huldras who fell 
into the possession of hunters and became their 
wives. At the wedding the cow’s tail was an em- 
barrassment, but after marriage this appendage 
sometimes disappeared. 

All the barrow, mount, forest, and tree elves are 
excessively fond of feasting. Their chief festival is 
held at Christmas, which corresponds with the hea- 
then Yule. Then their mounds are raised up on 
red pillars, revealing tables set out with gold and 
silver dishes. When mortals approach the scene of 
festivity they are politely invited in to drink and 
dance. If they comply they fall under an enchant- 
ment from which they can seldom break away. 
When a horseman is passing a mount an elf some- 
times issues forth and offers him a horn of beer. If 
he is wise he will not drink, for the liquor is a pow- 
erful spell, and will deliver him, body and soul, into 
elfin power. His true way, according to the folk- 
stories, is to dash the liquor behind him and to ride 
off with the cup. He is generally pursued by the 
elves or trolls he has outwitted, and who swarm 
after him like a pack of dogs. 

Though the breath and other emanations of elves 
are thought to be noxious to human beings, the re- 
lations between the two races is often kindly and 
helpful. The little people are more or less depend- 
ent on their big neighbors. There are many touch- 
ing stories of suffering elf-wives, who take the form 
of frogs, and who are bound up and cared for 
by kind peasant women. When an elf-child is to 


424 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

be born the elf-wife must have the care and help of 
her mortal sister. Such services are generally re- 
warded with riches and prosperity. These gentle 
superstitions entwine the heart-strings with every 
part of nature, with birds and unsightly things, 
even reptiles, and keep the affections tender toward 
the lowest of God’s creatures. 

It is said that elves change their dwelling-place 
on New-year’s night. Then the kindly Icelander, 
when he goes to bed, leaves tables set out and 
doors open to welcome the new inhabitants. Some- 
times the elves migrate in a body from one part of 
the country to another, or journey by sea from 
place to place. There are many curious stories of 
sea captains who have been engaged to transport 
shiploads of elves from the old habitation to a new 
one. It is to be inferred that they are driven out 
by new fashions and modes of life, and prefer the 
places where the old customs and beliefs still 
linger. 

It is said that there is no superstition more deeply 
rooted in the Norse mind than belief in the exist- 
ence of the Nisser or Nisse. This blithe little house- 
hold spirit is found in all parts of the North. In 
England he is called Goblin, in Scotland Brownie, 
in Germany Kobold, and in the Netherlands Kabon- 
terermannikin. He is a shrewd, clever little creat- 
ure, about the size of a child two or three years 
old, and generally wears a suit of coarse gray, and a 
red, pointed cap. He likes to live in the barn or 
stable, and help to care for the cattle and horses. 
For a favorite horse he will sometimes steal oats 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 425 

and hay from a neighbor’s store. He watches the 
hostler very jealously to see that he does not neg- 
lect his duty, or abuse the animals under his charge. 
He also has the interest of the master much at 
heart, and, if kindly treated, will work hard for him, 
and bring him good luck. Little Nisse is sensitive 
and high-spirited to a degree, and will generally 
disappear if presented with new clothes. The 
only favors he is willing to accept are presents of 
sweet porridge, dressed with butter, and cakes and 
beer. In many houses it was formerly the custom 
to set out these dishes each night for the Nisse, who 
always responded to kindness by his fidelity to the 
interests of the family. Sometimes he showed his 
queer little figure to the inmates, and the men- 
servants often heard him laugh loud and long in 
the stable. But Nisse was not always good. Occa- 
sionally he proved to be so persistently mischievous 
that the family was driven from the house. There 
are several stories of this kind, which describe the 
household stuff all piled upon the cart, when Nisse 
would poke up his head from a churn or some other 
receptacle, and cry out in his queer little voice : 
“ We are removing to-day.” But on the whole the 
influence of this quaint sprite was beneficial, for he 
exacted kindness to the lower animals, and was no 
eye-servant, but a faithful little worker, who labored 
for love. 

A singular class of fateful beings, called Disir, 
were often counted among the elves, and some- 
times among the land vaettir. They were named 
after the fabulous Queen Disa, of whom I have 


426 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

•told you, and in heathen times the great sacrifice 
on winter night, called Disa-blot, was held chiefly 
to propitiate them. The name Disir, is said to de- 
note goddesses, and it was given to several varie- 
ties of guardian and protecting spirits attached to 
mankind. The Disir had the character of individ- 
ual Fates, and were in the first place attached to the 
Norns as messengers, but they were finally stripped 
of their general attributes, and became attendant 
spirits, connected with races, families, and individ- 
uals. They were always thought of as feminine 
beings, who generally protected, but sometimes per- 
secuted, the people to whom they were attached. 
The Disir were often confounded with the Haming- 
jur and Fylgjur, whom I have described in another 
place. It is possible that in the first place all these 
beings were ancestral spirits, who, after death, were 
still supposed to interest themselves in the fortunes 
of their descendants. The traditional ghost, belong- 
ing to certain royal and noble families in Europe, 
and which appears on the eve of a misfortune, is 
probably a remnant of the ancient Disir supersti- 
tion. 

The various classes of elves form the larger part 
of the underground people. They are scarcely dis- 
tinguishable from the dwarfs, except that the latter 
are skilled smiths. In ancient times there was hard- 
ly a well-chased gold or silver bowl or drinking- 
horn, a finely-tempered sword, or a beautiful piece 
of armor, that was not spoken of as dwarf-made. 
In the oid legends the dwarfs appear as instructors 
of men in smith-work, and also in wisdom, for the 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 427 

lore of ancient times was supposed to be in their 
keeping. 

The popular giant retains all the bad traits of his 
heathen ancestor, although he is shorn of much of 
his power. There are several varieties of these 
beings, but they are all known by the general name 
of Troll. The jutul, a gigantic monster, is proper- 
ly the mountain-giant, but little transformed since 
Thor fought with Hrungnir. He is still greedy 
and of an evil nature ; he is wealthy, and owns 
some cattle. He is very partial to Christian blood, 
but hates the sound of church bells. He also dis- 
likes drums, because they remind him of his former 
conflicts with the thunder-god. When the wind 
howls fiercely among the rocks on the high mount- 
ains then the people say the jutul is shaking him- 
self, and the pots and kettles echo in which his 
wife is cooking the family dinner. When they seek 
to account for the large stones lying about the 
valleys, they say the jutul cast them down to de- 
stroy the church, but they invariably fell short of 
the mark. The holy St. Olaf, you will be informed, 
was in the habit of turning giants into stone stat- 
ues, simply by a sign of the cross. Landslips and 
nearly all the catastrophes of nature are attributed 
to giant power, and there are many stones to be 
met with where the peasants point out the prints 
of huge hands and fingers. 

Here is a description of one of these beings taken 
from an old Saga: “ He was quite black, except his 
eyes and teeth, which were white. His nose was 
large and hooked, his hair, which hung down all 


428 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER 

over his forehead, was as coarse as fishes’ gills, and 
his eyes were like two pools of water.” This mon- 
ster, who, in the first place, was nothing more than 
a rocky mountain collecting the thunder-clouds 
about his head, has become the shivering delight 
and dread of the nursery. But it does not behoove 
any one to fear him now that we know his real 
nature. 

The troll proper inhabits caves and the lower 
mountain slopes. He is cunning, treacherous, and 
greedy, but sometimes enters into friendly relations 
with men. He cannot bear the light of day, and 
when caught out in the sun is apt to burst. Trolls 
imitate men in all their ways. They have churches, 
and keep cattle, and furnish their dwellings in hu- 
man fashion. At Christmas and on feast days they 
throng Christian houses and devour all the food. 
Both trolls and thusser are to be dreaded, because 
they have a fondness for human brides, and some- 
times are supposed to carry them off to their caves. 
Thusser are similar to trolls, only they are of a pale 
blue color. 

It is probable that both thusser and land vaettir 
were originally ancestral spirits. The latter watch 
over whole regions of country, and guard the coast 
from the approach of enemies. There are tradi- 
tions of wise and good men, who, after death, be- 
came the land vaettir of the district where they 
had lived. 

There is a large class of water sprites in the North, 
who, though but few, if any, traces of them are to be 
found in the Eddas, do undoubtedly come straight 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 429 

down from heathen times. The most dangerous of 
these is the Norwegian Nok or Neck, who inhabits 
lakes and rivers, and requires the sacrifice of a hu- 
man being each year. According to the latest the- 
ory these beings are the ghosts of drowned people, 
who are supposed to haunt the places where they 
% died, and have gradually acquired the character of 
malignant spirits. The dangerous Nok inhabits 
whirlpools and waterfalls, and those who lose their 
lives in such places, through carelessness or accident, 
are naturally counted among his victims. He often 
assumes the shape of a horse with hoofs reversed, 
or of a half-boat lying quietly upon the water, and 
the person who touches these objects falls into his 
power. He is greedy for little children, and en- 
tices them to their ruin. There is a very dangerous 
sprite called the Fossegrim, who haunts mills and 
water-works, and plays on a violin to attract the 
unwary. 

The Swedish Neck is a far milder and more inte- 
resting being. Of a fine summer evening he ap- 
pears sitting on the surface of the water, wearing 
the aspect of a beautiful youth, with a golden harp 
in his hand. Those who wish to be instructed by 
him in music must offer him a black lamb, but above 
all things he desires to hear expressed from Chris- 
tian lips the hope of salvation for himself. He will 
often question passers-by as to whether he can ex- 
pect to be saved through Christ ; and when this 
hope is denied him he weeps bitterly. A Neck who 
lives under a bridge, or in a creek or river, is called 
a Strom-karl. He plays on a violin so sweetly that, 


430 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

like the Grecian Orpheus, the clouds stand still, and 
trees and rocks come nearer to listen. 

There is a beautiful little story connected with 
the Neck’s pathetic desire for salvation, which I 
will here give you. A Christian priest was one 
evening riding over a bridge, when he heard ravish- 
ing notes from a violin, and, on looking about him, 
saw a Neck sitting on the surface of the water. 

The priest spoke to him severely, and said : “Why 
do you joyously strike your harp ? This dried stick, 
which I hold in my hand, shall sooner put forth 
green leaves and blossoms than you shall obtain 
salvation.” 

The poor unhappy Neck, hearing the priest’s cruel 
words, laid down his viol and wept bitterly. The 
priest then wheeled about his horse and pursued his 
journey, but, before he had gone very far, to his 
amazement, he saw green leaves and flowers spring- 
ing from his old staff. He stopped and mused, for 
this miracle seemed sent from heaven to instruct 
him to preach a new gospel of redemption. Again 
he turned his horse’s head, and rode to the sorrow- 
ful Neck, and showing him the blooming, staff, said: 

“ Behold, my old staff has grown green and flow- 
ery like a young branch in a rose garden. So, like- 
wise, may hope bloom in the hearts of all created 
beings; for their Redeemer liveth.” 

The happy Neck now took up his viol and played 
sweetly all night. 

This beautiful legend shows a singular mixture 
of Christian and heathen ideas. The doctrine of 
the salvation of elves and giants in the restored 


FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 43 1 

universe after Ragnarock, may still have had some 
lingering power over the popular mind. The new 
priest naturally wished to expel such notions, but 
the simple-minded people desired to share the great 
gift of salvation and immortality with those vision- 
ary beings, who were very real to their fancy, and 
who brought so much poetry and romance into 
their lives. 

St. Olaf, we know, fell heir to the attributes of 
the thunder-god. To the common people he was 
Thor come back in a Christian guise. Odin met 
with a less enviable fate. He was changed into the 
Wild Huntsman, who is made familiar by numerous 
blood-curdling stories and- ballads. In North Ger- 
man legends the huntsman is called Wode, showing 
his direct connection with the old god. He rides a 
large white horse, and is followed by retainers and 
a pack of twenty-four hounds. When he passes the 
hedges fall, doors and gates fly open of themselves, 
and sometimes he goes clattering over the house- 
tops. Wode, the Old, is supposed to be a great 
enemy to the under-groundlings. He pursued elves 
and dwarfs with relentless fury until they disap- 
peared from earth, and now hunts them in the air. 
He is abroad chiefly during the twelve days of the 
ancient Christmas festival, which corresponds to 
the heathen Yule-tide. He is not always unfriend- 
ly to man, but sometimes bestows gold and silver 
in payment of the injuries his mad ride may have 
inflicted. 

Though many of the old superstitions were de- 
basing, some of them were sweet and kindly, im- 


432 TALES FROM THE NORSE GRANDMOTHER. 

parting to the peasant a gentle sense of brotherhood 
toward helpless creatures dependent on his care, 
making him reverent of forest-trees and giving him 
a sense of companionship in wild woods and soli- 
tary mountains. Even the repulsive side of these 
superstitions, like the belief in were-wolves, has a 
touch of tenderness in it ; for it causes the mind to 
see a fallen friend or brother in the wild beast of 
the forest. The belief in witchcraft, though it led 
to such horrible consequences, was an acknowledg- 
ment of the subtle powers of nature, which some 
beings were thought able to turn to evil uses. 
Every-where, from the simplest nursery-tale of giant 
and fairy up to the sublimest myth, we can trace a 
spirit of unconscious reverence for the Power that 
framed and supports the world. 


THE END. 


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